


Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus

by JValentine0



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Pre-Evil Within, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:08:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 66,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3478961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JValentine0/pseuds/JValentine0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You will hand her over…or I tip off that idiot cop that's snooping around. After she crucifies you…" He took one step toward Marcelo, voice low and dangerous. "I will make you feast on that graying matter mess you know as your brother's brain."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_"We are but dust and shadows.”_

_-Horace_

_I hate this town…_

Bare feet felt what little cold they dared and inform their master of said chill beneath tread. The tiled floor left a thin film of dirt on pale soles with each step. The janitor had decided to smoke half a pack of Marlboros and share a few laughs with the rest of the maintenance staff. The smoke pit was so far away, new smoking regulations a real ‘pain in the ass’ for a nicotine addict. The floors didn’t look _that_ bad. He’d mop tomorrow.

The filth beneath his feet only went ignored due to the ambiance of the hospital in the dead of night. A think tank that struggled with thought. Somewhere in the distance and dark were cries and whimpers. Desperate souls…some of which he would free with surgical instruments. The surgical tool in his grasp scraped its sharp edge against a door as he passed. It called out to them, like a lover in the dark. They would join the ranks of many…soon. It made him sick how _ungrateful_ they were that he chose them to be part of man’s ascent. Well, _his_ ascent… man would follow later.

_Lazy… Worthless… Worms… And their king entertains me today. A shame a bird doesn’t pick him off…_

Another step and greyed dead stars observed the man striding to the left. Dr. Jimenez, the plagiarizing moron himself, babbled on and on. Balding and sporting a lab coat, he had been a nervous wreck since Victoriano’s arrival. Endless questions about why the _need_ to come to the hospital and… _‘Were the test subjects not satisfactory?’_

Of course they weren’t. They had been fruitless outside of a few morbid laughs. More dead ends, wasted time, and corpses to dump.

Marcelo had even dared to ask…if he required more.

From beneath his cowl, the thirty-five year old Ruvik hardly bothered or even wished to hide his disdain for such awkward questioning. The razor sharp blade glided along another door, causing a screech to erupt from within the cell. It provoked a cruel grin on his face. “I might.” A sly hue filled the cowl draped man’s features. _It might just be you this time, Marcelo…_ Perhaps he’d even entertain himself with something vaguely amusing: making the man lose control of his bowls…and then force Marcelo to eat his own feces before ending his torment.

_It’s just the beginning of what this fraud deserves…_

Perhaps it had been Ruvik’s stance when they stopped, skull almost seeming heavy and a hungry for _more_ stare—akin to feeling like the prey staring down the jaws of an impending predator. Dr. Jimenez adjusted his tie with a quick glance toward one of the barred doors. “Well, I suppose I could let one more go for now…”

“You suppose? Did my check not cash?” That was Ruvik’s barbed hook to keep Marcelo’s cheek aching and bleeding so long as the two dealt with one another: money. Ruvik…had _plenty_ of it. Marcelo couldn’t spend the checks fast enough: for his hospital or Ruvik’s demand for more warm bodies some days.

“Well…Of course it did, Ruvik! I…I’m just hesitant to give you this one. We can check across the hall for another…” The balding man’s left hand lifted to rake over a thin hairline as the younger man looked almost intrigued. “Her parents are…”

“Well connected?” Stepping around the doctor, Ruvik peered in between the bars. A challenge was always something that secretly thrilled him. The dank air greeted the scarred man’s nostrils, causing them to flare. His gaze was greeted with the sight of a woman’s form sleeping under a thin wool blanket in the bed. The darkness of the room did him no favors, her outline dim at best.

She turned over, brunette hair unfurling with a sleepy sigh. In the dark, it appeared black. White gauze draped a wrist. Her soft features were aesthetically pleasing enough… However, it was her nose and mouth that stirred something in him. Almost a perfect match…

_Like Laura’s…_

His breath mutely hitched. Traces of cold greeted his hands, nails digging against the metal of the door. He wanted nothing more but to slip under the door and crawl into the twin sized bed with her, fantasize about Laura and her long hair. So many stormy nights she hugged him as they slept warm in his bed when they were young. Ruvik could make due with a cramped bed and strange woman. This was all for his sake and sanity anyway…as long as he gazed upon her lips...

Dr. Jimenez just had to bring him back to the shithole that was reality. “No… They’re…" He paused, milling around the complications of the situation in his head before answering. He had to answer with something...something to make Ruvik back off. "They’re friends of my brother and me. She was admitted last night for a suicide attempt. Her name is Juli.” Woman’s life story dumped right into Ruvik’s scarred palms to squeeze the life and weep the blood out of. Marcelo played a piss poor hand.

It was really why he was Ruvik’s favorite to haggle with. A faint smile slipped over the younger man’s lips as he continued to stare. He thought of her with longer hair and in a red dress. Not just any red, the red that bled out of two _weak_ and _worthless_ apes that couldn’t protect them. Would he dare ask her to dance on their graves with him? He hardly knew her…other than she loathed this existence about as much as he did. That was enough for now. She was just dark enough to be his Laura. Just enough for him to pretend for a day or two… That was all he needed. Then he’d get back to work. “I want her.” He spoke so softly, almost fondly… No, almost… longingly?

_Laura…_

Whatever that sound was in Ruvik’s voice, it made the doctor hovering nearby ill. Marcelo frowned deeply, hands up in protest. “I **cannot** , Ruvik.”

His fantasy of ‘Ring around the Rosy’ on the graves of filthy vermin was shattered. It brought on the coil of angry flame licking out of an already burned out black heart. The heir to the Victoriano fortune leered sidelong at the other man, surgical tool occasionally flicking light off its edge as he rotated it between impossibly long fingers. “Why?” The word almost boomed from his scarred and pale throat. He was eight again, and that Laura doppelganger was the puppy in the window. Marcelo had worn Ruvik’s patience enough by being an _insufferable_ bastard who held him back every chance he got.

_Then would steal my work…_

“Because… Ruvik… I promised them that I would treat her and have her returned home promptly. She… She’s their only daughter; there is nothing we can gain from her toward our goals. She is quite normal from my assessment, just put under stress from work and a failed relationship. She's a detective.” Marcelo worried his hands, a verbal court jester trying to appease his king before it was off with his head.

Ruvik settled onto the heels of his feet, passively studying the other man from the shadows of his hooded coat. Silence was a powerful tool. It was an ‘off with his head’ kind of day anyway. Marcelo publishing his research and now flaunting a toy that Ruvik wanted to play with. Yet, Ruvik was not allowed to play with it. He’d light Marcelo on fire without a second thought at this point if the man continued to push his luck. “You will hand her over…or I tip off that idiot cop that’s snooping around. After she crucifies you…” He took one step toward Marcelo, voice low and dangerous. “I will make you feast on that graying matter mess you know as your brother’s brain.”

Silence swallowed the space between the two.

Dr. Jimenez paled. Adam’s apple dipping as he swallowed hard, the aged man yielded in the dark of that hallway. “Okay… Okay, she’ll…she’ll go to you. I’ll have the proper arrangements made…” A final thought crossed his mind. “Ruvik, please don’t hurt her. She’s all they have.”

A deep sigh was followed by sagging shoulders as Victoriano’s heir glanced back between the divide in the bars. “I won’t.” His stare returned forward. “After I am bored with her, I’ll return her intact. The estate is big enough to keep her from seeing my work.”

Jimenez had never looked so relieved. He was…utterly confused by the sudden infatuation with a woman who… He just couldn’t ponder it. Ruvik was a mess, terrifyingly rich and powerful. It was best to just keep him happy. If he wasn’t going to bring harm to the girl… No point in arguing.

“I expect twenty test subjects in return for my charity, Marcelo.” Ruvik was already strolling away from the doorway, continuing on the path they were previously navigating.

“O-Of course! Anything you want, Ruvik.” The aging dark haired man was once again all business, dollar signs in his eyes.

Ruvik looked forward to the day he could watch the man pluck those white orbs out of his own skull. Then eat them.

The modified surgical tool spun lazily between his fingers.

_I seem to want Marcelo to eat many vile things before he dies… Oh well, it’s insignificant. I have…a new addition to my collection of prizes._

His little grin could not be sank the rest of the visit.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Theme: Radars Over the Ghosts of Chernobyl—Lights Out Asia

 

* * *

 

Terrifying dreams wrapped her in a sickening euphoria that left Juli nauseas.

She was wandering a hall, a sickening squishing sound leading her to look down. Drenched in blood from elbows to toes, she was a child again...screaming.

She was a rookie cop, staring down the barrel of a .45 that had one bullet with her name all over it. Tears drenched her cheeks.

Juli stood over the grave of her grandmother, feeling more dead than alive. Louis and his cigar smoke were in her face that it was time to leave. When she refused, he hit her.

Scalding red doused the side of her face, and Juli was a child again.

_"Worthless bitch."_

The medication had kept her just under the surface for hours. Hours upon hours she dreamt and wallowed in her pain. Sleeping it away, sleeping life itself away seemed to be the only antidote to her suffering.

Louis had left far more than a dent in her heart than the day they attended the funeral.

_He was a bastard anyway…_

She convinced herself of it. Over and over, she recited everything that made him a bastard. It was a personal creed, hit list, and testament for her soul. He drank too much. He stole money. He beat on her. He cheated twice. She forgave twice too many, but she had been so lonely. If she’d been a stronger woman, Juli would have kicked him at the curb long ago. The job…it took a toll. Rising to detective very young, Juli Kidman wasn’t prepared for the burden of it. The faces of the dead haunted her. The foolish people who beat on one another left bruises on Juli too. Still, she gladly accepted the load and the pay raise. The pay raise meant a new car, new clothes, and a new life. It brought new stress.

_Louis badgered her to work more hours. He took most of that pay raise and wasted it on another woman. Flowers, lingerie, paying her fucking rent…_

How _stupid_ she’d been. She let him live with her for nothing for eight months. It still killed her inside. It killed her when she caught him in bed with another woman—all because of a forgotten brown paper bag with her lunch in it. The bed was three weeks old. Juli had bought a special one to relieve his back pain; even though it had been so soft it left her with a driving pain between her shoulders every morning. She could vividly recall the empty feeling. That hole in her chest that went from breastbone to spine and punched out her back; leaving her gasping for breath and thought while she reeled from the blow.

_Such a bastard… He’ll get his. Karma is the great equalizer after all…_

Shamefully, she’d taken to mauling herself for such a deed done to her in the end. After alcohol left her vomiting, and recreational drugs were not an option… Juli watched red jewels drop on her bathroom floor from her arms in a moment of utter weakness. Kindness for those who she knew would collect her corpse drove her to crawl into the tub, where she’d make less mess to clean. Cowardice drove her to fear tomorrow alone. Courage had driven her to pick up the phone.

_I called Mom._

Mom… always the one person in the world that could be counted on to dial 911, and utter softly how proud she was that Juli had called. How proud she was that Juli had been brave enough to face tomorrow. How proud she was that Juli was her daughter.

_I love you, Mom._

Her thoughts were suddenly muted, breath held in tight. Somewhere in the dark, she felt something cold and sharp against her cheek. She froze, a hind with an arrow catching its legs. The thumping of her heart in its delicate cage the only movement found in her form. It felt…comforting. Her head rolled to the side as it traveled down… Along her throat, against where a pulse was visible along her neck. It wandered further, a lost snake in a garden. Across her collarbone, down her breastbone it continued. Along the knoll of her breast, she sighed contently as the cold rolled against the swell.

It wandered further, and vanished at her navel. A mouth met hers, lips brushing as softly as a feather against those pouty and rouged edges. She lightly gasped as a trickle of breath heated her face. Then, a warm tongue parted her lips, like a hungry animal eager for blood after a long hunt. It tasted hot and fierce, her own mouth responding in kind so eagerly. It stole itself away sharply, fleeing the scorch of her mouth, leaving her desperate for more. Her spirit lashed out to break the surface to wake, only to sink back into the darkness of slumber.

She slept on, lonely for the touch again. Her Eros had fled into the night, scared away by the scalding oil of her tongue to his delicate wings.

* * *

 

The morning’s light woke her to a new day. A day in a world she didn’t want to be a part of in some ways. Other parts of her were stronger, and demanded that cowardice be put aside. Her eyes lifted open to greet the warm sunlight spilling in over her sleepless lids. When she focused, she sat straight up.

 She wasn’t in the hospital ward.

A very lavish room met her stare. Vintage wallpaper, the flooring was solid wood with sanguine rugs running under the bed and to the door. The bed she laid in, four posts and rich mahogany, bore a canopy of bright red with curtains running along. An older style, meant for privacy. White sheets and a black comforter hugged to her lithe form. It _reeked_ of wealth and history down to the stitching on the blanket beneath her fingertips.

_Where…am I?_

Looking down, she saw that she was still in the hospital gown from the night before. After being admitted, she begrudgingly had donned the gown bearing the crest of the hospital over her heart. Juli had felt very silly wearing it, trading her badge for the near straight jacket. All over some guy…

_I feel silly for being Juli Kidman._

A knock on the door, her head snapped in the direction of the sound, brunette locks flicking with the motion. Nervously, she answered the rapping with a shaking voice. “Yes?”

The mahogany door’s gracefully long knob turned and the door opened. A balding man, well-dressed in black, appeared and offered a bow of his head before responding. “Miss Kidman, I hate to bother you. However, it is well past two in the afternoon. I wanted to wake you for a late luncheon before the cook left until evening meal time.”

Juli could only blink, still stunned.

_Am I dead?_

The man continued in his bored drawl. “There is clothing in the closet,” he pointed to the double doors across from the bed. “You should be able to find something more _suitable_ to wear. Please dress quickly; Mister Victoriano insisted you be fed promptly.”

_Victoriano? The estate owner outside of the city? What the…fuck…_

Completely unsure of how she wound up in the bed of the wealthiest family within a hundred miles, Juli nodded slowly to the man. “Thank you?” The door’s clipped shutting caused her flinch. Confusion smeared itself over her face as she sat in the bed. The warmth of the bedding begged her to stay. A hand ghosted along her throat absently.

_That dream._

The memory of something sharp…a mouth on hers that spoke more words into her maw than anyone had ever into her ears. The heavy ache in her chest burned itself out, and she put the memory away. With a heavy sigh, the woman crawled out of the bed. Trekking across the room, she fumbled with the knobs of the closet and opened the doors. The light within flicked on with the doors opening, revealing row after row of apparel. The tags were still on every article of clothing, all of it new.

_What is going on? Who keeps an entire closet full of unworn women’s clothing?_

Something in her stomach sent a warning, the bizarre nature of her discovery shaking the woman down to her core. Still, she didn’t wish to meet a Victoriano wearing…a hospital gown.

_May as well take him up on his generosity…_

Stepping in, she filed through the various pieces of clothing. The white stones of her fingers slid over textures and colors.

_A lot of red…_

Most of it, Juli recognized as wardrobe she could have never bought. Expensive pieces, for expensive women. A red shirt and black designer jeans won out for the attire of the day. Popping the tags, she stripped out of the hospital gown and stuffed it into the laundry hamper tucked in the corner of the closet.

 _I have to be dead. There is no other explanation. How else would I have ended up wearing a button down_ _lamé_ _shirt made by D &G? This thing has to be three-hundred bucks!_

Sliding the shirt and pants on, Juli was quick to head out the door. Bare feet pattered against the wooden floors. She had no shoes, and her toes were grateful to be spread for once. Greeted in the hall again by the man who had previously poked his head in, she offered him an awkward wave and smile.

“Hello again, Miss Kidman,” The balding man seemed completely bored in tone, turning on a dime to face her. “If you’ll follow me, and please… _don’t_ touch anything.”

Juli nodded, brunette strands bobbing with the motion. “Okay.”

They moved in silence, which she wasn’t sure if she should be grateful for or not. Hands crammed into the tight pockets of her jeans, she elected to follow his advice of touching nothing. The faces of what she could only guess to be the Victorianos of the past greeted her with their silent stares from oil paints along the walls. The theme was somber, serious, and stern generation after generation.

He led her down the stairs, softly greeting a maid ascending to the floor above.

Juli glanced briefly at the woman passing, and then back to the man ahead of her. “Mister…Victoriano will be joining me? I have questions…”

“Of course you do.” The unnamed man almost sounded contemptuous as he strolled off carpeted stairs onto marble flooring. He paused at the twin doors tucked beneath the flight of steps they had descended and a mate stairwell that serpentine in a counter motion. “I do not wish to speculate if he will or not. He did inform me of your… _situation_. I will try to do my best to answer what questions you have.”

Juli nodded, casting her glance to the two men in attendance at the doors. They wore much the same attire as her mysterious counterpart. At a finger’s snap, they both reached out and opened the doors. A long and dark hallway bathed in a foreboding red awaited them. Round yellow lights lit the hall in an almost ominous fashion.

_I hate old houses. They creep me the hell out…_

She hesitated to move until the man at her left started down the hallway. “I…I wanted to know why I’m here.” Her feet fell in step with the balding man as they walked through. The doors closing behind caused Juli to glance over her shoulder.

“Mister Victoriano occasionally extends his estate, his skills with psychiatry, and his extensive connections to more qualified individuals in the psychology community to people who shouldn’t have been committed to Beacon Mental Hospital. That place is overcrowded, old, and should be torn down. He speculates that the black mold and lead paint kill more patients than the quacks working there.” A gray eye peered at her sidelong. “You needed to be in a _real_ hospital bed, given time to recover and rest your weary mind. He doubted you would receive rest and adequate treatment for your stress while locked up like a wild animal. He is aware of your occupation and is _very_ sympathetic.” The man uttered, his tone holding the highest regards for his employer. Hands folded at the small of his back, he cast his gaze down to her. “You are very young for a detective.”

Juli cast a skeptical glance toward the man. “I… I’m the youngest ever to reach it in Krimson City.” She didn’t like tooting her own horn, just being seen as useful and reliable. It gave her a sense of pride to have been the youngest ever in the history of the city to achieve the rank, though she was aware many had misgivings over such an honor. She kept her distance from the others, a career she had so looked forward to had turned into just a “job”, where she was counting minutes at times until she could go home.

“You should be proud of your achievement, Miss Kidman.” More doors opened, he extended an arm before him, palm gesturing toward the long table of the dining room. “Feel free to sit and eat. I must tend to a few matters.”

Panic overtook her face. “Wait, I still have other questions.”

“In due time, Miss Kidman. Please, sit and eat. There is no reason for you to starve yourself over inquisitiveness. Satisfy your appetite, and perhaps Mister Victoriano himself will sate your curiosity.” With a gentle bow, the balding man departed the room through a door on the far side.

Juli glanced toward the table. Two places had been set: one at the head of the table, the other on the right hand side.

_I can only imagine that the head seat belongs to him._

A distant memory of being kicked out of such a seat as a child rang through. Juli shoved it into a mental closet and sat down at the right hand side. She stared down at the setting before her. Too many forks, a spoon that looked to be made of bone next to the polished silver…Juli recalled her father always saying _‘Just start with the outside silverware and work your way in.’_ The clock ticked on the wall, the only company she found being its sound.

A few seconds passed and another gentleman appeared from behind the door swinging wide open from the kitchen. He too was well dressed in black. It seemed to be the uniform for all serving in the estate. Tall, with a swimmer’s form, he seemed rather young for sporting silvery hair trimmed in a dramatic blunt cut with a trendy slick to it. His chilly blue eyes held the warmest of expressions—a man that truly enjoyed his work. “Ah! Miss Kidman, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Nicholas, and I will be serving you this afternoon. Can I get you anything to drink? Wine perhaps? The Victoriano family’s selection for their guests is extensive.”

Her nose wrinkled just a touch at that. “Isn’t it a little early for a drink?” Juli asked, pressing against the back of the chair as the man suddenly took the cloth napkin from under her silverware and laid it over her lap.

Nicholas chuckled. “For some of Mister Victoriano’s guests: No. Perhaps you would prefer a cola?”

The brunette nodded, feeling a little foolish in her naïve ways. “I…Sure.”

“We do not keep a formal menu but the chef trained in France for many years. Would you care for _Choux farci au Saumon de Tasmanie?_ Or perhaps _Salmon en Croute_?

Juli blinked. “Turkey sandwich?”

Nicholas seemed almost perplexed as he paused, and then laughed. “Of course, Miss Kidman.” He was gone in twenty steps, the kitchen door swinging on its hinge back and forth.

Between bites, she asked every question she could think of to Nicholas.

“Mister Victoriano? Well, he’s…thirty-five, quite the shut in. You’ll never see him in the city, I’m afraid. He was something of an orphan, sadly. A shame what happens to men who lose everything but their money. Never married, no children…though he does have a pet dog.”

Juli nodded at that as she chewed. Mouth half full of turkey with cheese, she had another question. “Does he always keep a closet full of women’s clothing?” The tone in her voice hinted to curiosity of just how eccentric her mysterious benefactor was.

_Maybe he parades around in some of them occasionally. You never know._

Nicholas ran a hand over his silvery hair. “Ah… No. That was a special request. Your sizes were found in the clothing you were admitted into the hospital with.” The butler did his best to put things in the most delicate fashion possible. “He… personally picked all of it out. There should be an assortment of… other things up there for you. Unmentionables and so on…” He replied, clearing his throat.

_Wait… this guy bought underpants for me…?_

That caused a brow to raise high. “He picked out…” The sandwich was dropped on her plate, mouth wiped with her napkin. The words ‘picked out’ almost made her skin crawl. Something about that seemed so _intimate_. Not even Louis picked anything for her to wear. Nothing like _that_ … He hadn’t even liked seeing her wearing lingerie. The one time she had sauntered into the living room in a corset and stockings, he’d smashed her heart on the floor.

_“The game is on. Can you move?”_

Juli kicked that train off thought off a mental cliff before she imploded from anxiety.

Nicholas realized his error, already functioning as damage control. “This is the first time in a few years that he’s offered to help someone that was admitted to the hospital. The last one was an older gentleman…a friend of his deceased father.”

“Did he pick out panties for that guy too?” She slid the chair back, finishing off the bubbly soda before rising to her feet. “Okay, I have hit a new low.” Cloth napkin dumped on the gold trimmed plate, Juli sighed. “This… this is a new low for me. I try to slash my wrists like a coward because I couldn’t keep my boyfriend from fucking other women. Now, some rich shut in… basically sees me as so desperate and pathetic…” Fingers ran through her unruly brunette strands. Hands slapping to her hips, she sighed. “I am…a sad case.”

The silver haired man stood. “Miss Kidman, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that at all.”

Juli’s expression shifted to unbelieving.

Nicholas pressed his protest. "It was for sanitary reasons. It was best that we just… buy everything you needed. You are to remain here until it is safe for you to return to your home in the city.”

Concern lit her voice aflame. “I couldn’t go back to my apartment to get some things?”

The butler bit his lower lip. His stare shifted toward the clock. “…Your apartment was sacked and you were robbed while you were in the hospital. The police have been informed and your parents have hired an attorney already.”

That went over like a lead balloon.

He raised a hand as she began to protest. “Please, Miss Kidman. Our job is to ensure that Mister Victoriano’s wishes are met. His wishes were that you are taken care of and allowed to recover.”

Her hands went to her hips as annoyance raised high on her features. “So where is he? Where is my mysterious benefactor?”

“I… I’m sure he’s busy working. Please have patience, Miss Kidman. Shall I escort you back to your room?”

Juli’s gaze narrowed as her eyes scorched. She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted out of the only person that hadn’t tried to haul her away. The memory of something sharp in the dark burned along her throat again. Juli ignored it. Trying to retain some dignity, she promptly wiped away the two tears trying to escape. “Yes, please.”

 

* * *

 

The clock quietly chimed a quarter past one. Juli hadn’t expected her quarters to be…so dark. After her little angry bout of anxiety, she’d stripped and crawled into bed. Evening meal missed, Juli had a feeling she was better off not trying to eat something she couldn’t pronounce the name of. Just as she had dozed back into the comfort of the feather pillow and another dose of medication, she froze.

Something icy cold against her spine, pressure forcing her tender flesh to dip under it.

Breath held, she lay perfectly still.

It moved, hazy and slow downward. It drug downward, slithering across taunt skin. As gentle as a lover’s touch, yet bone chillingly cold.

Her nails coiled into the fabric of her pillow’s case, back gliding into an arch. Dark brows knitting above shut eyes, Juli’s breath hitched.

It slid over one spot near her hip, trailing a perfect circle. Round and round…a memory in white painted itself red in irritation.

A wanton moan lifted from her throat, nails digging deep into the fabric. A cry never heard in the halls of that sprawling mansion.

The sharp cold stopped and suddenly stole itself away, lifted from her skin and gone.

_Eros was so flighty…_

Juli’s eyes lifted open under hovering lids. More awake, she swallowed hard. The chilled trail left a razor sharp burn all the way down her back.

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Theme: Phantom Limb—Eightfourseven

* * *

 

 

_I hate florescent lighting… It always gives me a headache._

A heavy sigh and a head hung in frustration from beneath a shroud that was more grime and blood than fabric at this point. Long and scarred fingers ceased their grasp, stationary briefly before releasing the tethered scalp. The scalp flopped back onto the cranium with a wet slap. It refused to be molded under skilled hands, and a gnarling anger had set itself between Ruvik’s shoulder blades.

_STEM…It’s so close to completion. Yet, there’s too much work to be done still. Evaluating why this subject couldn’t work…isn’t happening tonight. I’m tired..._

He dumped the surgical scissors back into a tray spattered with blood from previous unceremonious treatment of other utensils that lay within. He hated having to be gentle with these humans. Every last one of them had the intelligence of a common sheep. Every last one of them with their noisy screams, thrashing…and eyes like spooked horses. Just utter garbage to Ruvik. Yet, test subjects were becoming scarcer with that quack so terrified of being caught.

_Funny… He was the one that told me this sort of work at times was necessary for men of science. Stupid hypocrite is only able to do what needs to be done so long as the ends filled his pockets and someone else could take the blame._

Deep red dripping from each digit was wiped away with a clean rag as dead grey eyes peered down at the corpse lying on the examination table. The screaming had stopped hours ago, leaving him feeling hollow. His sharp stare briefly viewed the failed project before him as he wiped his hands.

_None of them can handle what I put myself through daily._

The only visible part of the dead man’s eye gleamed milky white.

He dropped the rag on the corpse’s head…and his thoughts wandering back upward.

To her…

A thief in the night, he couldn’t stand staying away. He wanted to see her up close. Nothing had been filtered out, her perfect body beneath the sharp edge of the orbitoclast. He had never intended to touch her with more than it, gleaming light off the metal while testing how well she could remain still.

_She passed._

He had done what was unthinkable before that moment… lowering himself to her in the dark, and let her mouth scorch him to the ground.

_I wanted…to taste all of her. Am I so terrible I went back for seconds?_

He grinned to himself at the thought between the shadows of his cowl, scarred mouth tugging oddly.

She wasn’t so still the second time, creamy skin left in red marks like water color. Her back arched…

_That sound she made…_

His lower lip set so tight between his teeth, Ruvik drew blood. A wandering tongue lapped it away in a single stroke. His Laura doppelganger… such a perfect little thing for him to play with. Even able to derive sensuality at the end of a surgical tool he frequently jabbed into the eye socket of whoever was unfortunate enough to be his latest patient.

His sleepless gaze clicked to the orbitoclast sitting on the edge of the table next to him. A digit flicked the sharp point of the tool he so loved making his kind of music with in a downward fashion. A soft hiss filled his breath, skin punctured by the object as it flipped into his hand easily. The droplet of blood that welled was sucked away. A minor annoyance, as he pocketed the surgical tool and draped a cloth over the corpse until the next time he had need of it. It would be soon… He had other needs to tend to before they burned him up from inside out.

* * *

 

Juli couldn’t bring herself to continue to sleep. Four in the morning warned her that it was still too early to be wandering the halls with its chime from a grandfather clock. She ignored it, pale feet pattering over carpet. She had convinced herself that the medicine had left her with a dry mouth. She needed water and to wander all the way down to the kitchen to find a glass of it.

_It wouldn’t hurt to explore on the way…_

The Victorianos certainly didn’t spare expense when it came to their home. Beautiful paintings, rare antiques from the Far East; all carefully arranged through the halls lit with dim light. A splendorous and haunting place to call home…though she had to admit it felt more like a museum than a home.

_Maybe I just don’t get it…_

At the bottom of the stairs, she noticed how deserted the place was. Marble reflected light of its clean surface, the walls bathing in the dimness, but not a soul was to be seen. The silence was almost unnerving. Juli paused, brows furrowing.

_Which way was the kitchen again?_

She blinked; peering left and right…completely lost. A heavy sigh and Kidman made for the door to the left. Turning the knob, she winced as it groaned from the disturbance. Peeking inside, her eyes widened at the interior of the lounge. Low flames were still flickering in the fireplace.

_Is that the family?_

The painting hung over the mantle drew the woman inside, closing the door behind her with a gentle hand. Crossing the threshold past the antique chairs, even in the dimness of the room, she could see their faces...mostly.

A father, proud eyes stared her down from behind well groomed features. Something about his appearance aired to a shrewd but religious personality. Juli couldn’t have told anyone just what gave her that impression.

A mother, lovely though almost seeming sullen in expression on the picture, gazed out with brilliant blue eyes to Juli. Her clothing was very…conservative. It reminded Juli of the clothing from pictures taken in the early twentieth century. They were religious. 

A girl, draped in brilliant shades of red, gazed out from under her long strands of dark hair. There was a light in her eyes, a warmth in her that not even canvas could deny.

Juli’s eyes set on the last member of the picture. A boy, blonde with much the same features as his father, bearing a blank expression.

She took a step closer to the mantle, curious. The darkness of the room did her few favors for getting a really good look at his face.

_Is that…him?_

“You’re up very early.” A voice uttered behind her.

Juli jerked about, legs pivoting as she put her back to the fire. A hand on her chest, she took a deep breath as she found the source of the voice.

A man draped in a black sat in the tall backed chair, shrouded in a hood like some medieval assassin. Despite the dark, his gray eyes stood out boldly against their whites. So pale, what she could see of his flesh looked almost ethereal in certain spots. Gauze cut across his nose, most of his face wrapped and hidden. Her frozen stance and the near black of the room made it hard to tell. Perhaps he was a burn victim? That'd explain why he was such a shut in.

He seemed almost amused at her surprise.

_Holy shit, was he there the whole time?_

She fumbled for her words. “I… I’m sorry. I came down needing a drink and got…lost, Mister Victoriano.”

His amused expression almost fell flat. “Just Ruvik, _please_. Mister Victoriano is feeding worms at this moment.” Stare slithering over her form, the amusement returned to his mouth. He couldn’t stay mad at her. She didn’t know what an insufferable _fool_ his father had been.

“Ruvik,” She echoed, trying it on for size.

His name on her tongue burned a hole in his stomach, lips curling wide. He was almost giddy, a feeling that had abandoned him a very long time ago.

 Juli tilted her head a little. “It’s…nice to meet you.” Her eyes squinted in the darkness.

The hooded man merely gestured to the chair across from him. “Please sit.” He tugged the opening of his coat closed as she neared. He didn’t want her to see him as he was, even with a long sleeved shirt beneath his almost iconic styled jacket, and black everything else covering all but his hands. Not her… No, he didn’t want that.

_I should have asked her to leave._

It only made her more curious. Still, she sat down. Back resting against the chair, Juli couldn’t remove her gaze from trying to study him.

The hood and coat made that effort almost worthless. He fumbled around for what to say next. Rarely did he even need to speak to his staff. They knew him so well. Such conversations were pointless…

_Think..._

“How are you feeling?”

_Close enough._

Juli caught a glimpse of his stare on her face as she rummaged through her strands of brunette. “I… Better? I don’t know…” She paused, a thoughtful expression crossing her face as she looked to the painting. Her eyes fell on the mother’s face. “Hollow.”

He nodded, following her stare toward his mother’s depiction. Ruvik gazed at her for the longest time, regret still panging his faded soul over her death. She had been weakened…and his father only made it worse. Ernesto… he just had to drive Ruvik into the basement while his wife suffered.

_Prick._

Ruvik finally spoke. “She could have empathized with that, more than you will ever realize.”

Juli turned to him. “Your mother?” Her voice was so soft, so curious. He made her curious.

It secretly thrilled him that he made her so. “Yes, my mother gave up on living…a very long time ago.” He saw no reason to not keep it simplistic. “I am certain your own mother would have felt the same way had she lost you.”

The brunette woman nodded, regarding the tiny flames that still flickered amid the coals. “You’re probably right.” Pulling her feet up under her, Juli let out a sigh. “I thought of her… when I was laying there. She was the only person in the world I could call for help.”

Silence on his end.

“She told me how proud she was of me… for calling her.” Gazing down at her hands, Juli pressed her lips into a thin line. “I let her down.”

Dead gray stars drifted their stare over her, swallowing the image of her lost in thought. “What happened that led you to this?”

Kidman looked up with a sigh. “A live in boyfriend who refused to get a job, badgered me to work more, and then I caught him in bed with another woman…twice.” She held up two fingers before letting her hand drop back to her lap. “I couldn’t take it anymore. He was calling my phone every few hours making new demands, new threats of what he was going to do me if I didn’t give him the title to his motorcycle… I decided to just end it. The job was getting to me too.” She scratched her nails over an unseen itch along her hairline. “Apparently he robbed me as soon as I was in Beacon Mental Hospital.”

Tired and scarred lids slid over Ruvik’s eyes. “I was aware of the last part. The rest… well, it seemed wiser to hear it from the source.”

“What drives a man to do that to a woman?” A left field question.

Gray eyes sliced open at the question. “They crave… _more_.”

“More what?”

“That’s it. They just want more of anything they can get. More women to give them pleasure. More money to buy things they don’t need to impress more women that they want for one thing. More time to do those things…”

Juli fell back against the chair’s cushioning.

_He certainly doesn’t sugar coat it._

Ruvik continued, hands carefully remaining out of view as he crossed his arms. “Men like that… have a void in them so deep that nothing will ever fill it. They have no direction; they have no purpose to their existences.  They’re lost souls…and are not likely to ever change so long as someone enables them.” Cracking his neck, a sigh escaped his pale throat. “The best advice I could ever give someone in your situation…would be to realize that the cancer that killed your relationship was never in your body. Though you almost acted out the final scene of such a disease…”

She lowered her gaze, embarrassed.

“There is no shame in wanting the pain to just stop.” Experience rang through his tired and graveled voice.

Juli could feel her eyes stinging, head sinking between her shoulders.

“You had every right to walk out on everyone and everything. The world failed you…much as it has failed everyone else.”

At a loss for words, Juli was surprised…

_What kind of expert would condone a suicide attempt?_

He wasn’t though, she remembered. A dry mouth from powerful anti-depressant medication reminded her of that. Nipping on the edge of her nail, Juli let out a heavy sigh. Turning her stare up, she let off the tiniest gasp.

Ruvik was gone.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

Juli sat on the edge of her bed, hovering over the drawers of the squatting clothing cabinet next to it. Sunlight in her eyes, she ducked, fingers coiling around the knob of the top drawer. Her meeting with Ruvik… it left her wondering far more than what she wanted to admit openly. First impressions were lasting to Kidman, though she fancied herself a skeptical woman who kept her head between her shoulders…mostly. Neither pedigree, nor money had ever mattered to her…obviously. Louis was proof enough of that.

_There was something about Ruvik._

There was a fierceness to him, unbound and unchained in ways that she had never been.  Something in his eyes, and a sound in his voice…

There was something in his voice, the way he spoke to her. Even when brutally honest, his voice had been gentle…almost… She couldn’t put her finger on just what it was. It gave her ideas that were less than church pew conversation, anyway.

_That dream… the sharp in the dark and that mouth. Was it even a dream? Was it Ruvik?_

She swallowed and pulled on the brass knob, the drawer opening easily. Brows popped, she reached in and pulled out what lay on top.

The undergarment was stitched with lace, silky and red—a deep red.

_A shade reserved for being seen._

The color drained from her face only to return in full force to her cheeks in stinging red. Juli let her air out and the panties drop her grasp back into the drawer. She quietly closed it, hardly able to process the wordless statement left in the drawer as the door to her room received a sharp knock. “Yes?”

Nicholas appeared in the doorway, smiling beneath his silvery strands. “Good morning, Miss Kidman.”

Juli offered a half smile, rising to her feet. “Good morning, Nicholas.”

The tall and slender man gave his black tie a slight adjustment between his fingers. “Doctor Jimenez arrived a few minutes ago. He wishes to see you right away.” Nicholas uttered, concern strung through his voice.

Juli lifted a brow, nodding. “Okay. Is something wrong?”

* * *

 

 

Marcelo ran both hands over his balding head as he paced back and forth in the main hall. Ruvik hadn’t answered the phone in three days. Typical for Ruvik, but this was not the time to be playing games.

_He’s probably still upset, thought that I’d take his silence lying down._

The sound of footfalls filled his ears, and the aging doctor turned his Italian leather shoes on a dime. A sigh of relief escaped him as he looked up to see Kidman and her escort descending the stairs. “Thank God…” He whispered upon exhale, quickly approaching the stairs. “I hope I didn’t wake you, Juli.”

A small wave offered, the brunette woman beamed at Marcelo. “Not at all, Doctor Jimenez. I’ve… been awake for a few hours.” She freely embraced the man upon approach. “I’m glad to see you.”

Marcelo smiled, eyes creasing with crow’s feet. “Same, more than you could possibly imagine.” His stare hardened as he looked to a loitering Nicholas. “I am taking her outside for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.” His clipped voice was followed by leading Juli toward the doors.

“Of course,” Nicholas replied beneath a faux grin. “Anything to appease Mister Victoriano’s guests.”

Juli caught a glimpse of the silver haired man’s dark stare as she followed Marcelo.

_That’s odd._

* * *

 

On the steps, Marcelo took a seat on the stone. “How are you feeling?”

Juli diverted her stare from the doctor’s vintage Mercedes down to him before she too sat. “Better… I’m feeling stronger.” Her eyes glanced to the fresh bandaging on her arms, a hand absently reached down to tug at the hem of her shirt after. “When am I supposed to meet with the psychiatrist?”

“He’ll be stopping by after four o’clock.” Concern draped the older man’s face. “How…How do you like being here?”

_Why is he so distressed?_

Juli gave a shrug. “I’m fed well, and have a decent bed… I’ve been given plenty of time to think and rest. Nicholas said that tonight is the manor ‘movie night’, so I have that to look forward to.” She swallowed, eyes lifting as a lark took flight from the ground nearby. “I was told my apartment was sacked. I may just rent out a room here so I don’t have to even look at that disaster.”

Jimenez paled at the thought but nodded, weathered hands folding over his knee. “All of that is being taken care of, Juli. Don’t worry about that. And…you met Ruvik?”

Kidman’s stare hardened briefly. “Yes. Early this morning was the first time I met him. He’s been working otherwise. I don’t know where, but he’s been absent for the most part.”

Nodding several times, the doctor worried his hands. “Good. I…” His stare shifted to Juli’s face, speaking low and quickly. “Mobius made contact, wondering why your dead drop reports were late.”

A heavy sigh and Kidman let her head sink between her shoulders. Her other job, observation for Mobius, the one that she never spoke of to anyone aside from those who knew it... Her parents, her boyfriend, her friends… none of them knew. “What did you tell them?”

“The truth, of course. Condolences were sent that you…cracked under the pressure, though they are expecting you to make a full recovery and be mission ready again soon. Arrangements are being made to put you in another precinct. Your status was almost pulled until I told them that you had left the hospital. They were practically giddy after hearing where you ended up…”

A dark brow raised by the brunette woman.

_That I…ended up here in the Victoriano Estate?_

Marcelo continued. “He…Ruvik…is a person of interest. The project you’re observing for…is entirely based on his work. He runs it from the shadows.”

Stare shifted to the doctor’s face, Juli’s voice dropped low. “He created STEM?”

“Yes, he is the architect. A very brilliant man with…a very sad history, and some disturbing traits. Only the higher-ups and I know about him.”

She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know what was ‘disturbing’ about Ruvik. Juli only knew that STEM was some big hush-hush project that required the police to be watched and her to be ready for some mission because she was ‘compatible’. Other than that, she was just as much in the dark as everyone else. Knees pulled up to her chest, her chin came to rest in the gap between them. The morning breeze felt nice on her face. “So, do I have orders?”

“No, God no! You need to recover and be ready to get back to work. They need you back at the police department. This… as far as they are concerned is a change in fortune for us. I don’t want you to make trouble for yourself, however.” Weathered digits tapped against his mouth as Marcelo thought. “You are in a unique position, though. He wanted you here. A man like that, shut in for years… only to suddenly want the company of a woman he doesn’t know from Adam.” Aged lips twitched into a grin as he chuckled. “Oh Ruvik, so hopeless.”

Juli knew that look.

“As much as I don’t want you here, you could learn a great many things from him that he’s kept from everyone else.”

_Oh lord._

“Seduction isn’t my _thing_.” Juli replied bluntly.

“No, no… I mean for you to just learn what you can. Show some mild interest in what he does. He may show you, and that’s a better chance than anyone else has had for knowing his progress. Ruvik is very paranoid about someone stealing what is his… Only he can access his lab.”

A heavy sigh and Juli pressed her back against the step behind her. “It’ll be difficult. It’s difficult enough to hold a conversation with him. He seems to vanish into thin air at any given moment.”

“Yes… He has many secret doors in the manor. Don’t give the impression that you anything but a distressed woman who happens to be an officer of the law. No phone calls, no letters…please. He will monitor and read them. I’ll forward your status back and send a letter to the department about your situation’s improvement.” Climbing to his feet, he offered a hand to Juli, pulling her up off the cold stone. “If at any moment you do not feel safe, the road out of here spills into the village _Elk River_. From there, it’s five miles to the city. There is an old payphone in the village. Call me day or night. I will come and get you.” A final hug and the doctor descended the steps.

Juli watched silently as the old car rounded the driveway and only rear lights were visible in a matter of seconds. Brows knitting as she made her way up the steps, she paused at the door and looked up at the manor’s façade. The itch of being watched had overwhelmed her senses.

A hooded form stared back from a second floor window. A trick of the light, a wallow of black resided where a face would have been.

_Oh shit…_

 Juli swallowed hard, her hand lifting as she offered a wave toward the figure.

_Be calm… please…_

The form merely stood stationary, then disappeared from sight as it walked away.

The brunette exhaled deeply as her stare dropped, relief enrapturing her shoulders. A chill rolled down the woman’s spine as she turned to knob, the wind seeming to beg her to stay outside with its gust.

_Is he really so dangerous that even Dr. Jimenez fears him?_

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Theme: Bach—Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV 1068_

* * *

 

Brunette hair swept back, flicking its locks in the breeze as Kidman ran down one of the winding roads leading away from the manor. Strands gathered and slicked against her hairline, beaded sweat weighing them too heavy. Her breath labored, arms swinging with the counter foot, the gravel beneath her tread crunching with each footfall.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

She needed to clear her head.

And one mile at a time, Juli did.

* * *

 

_Light glinted harshly from the psychiatrist’s glasses where he sat in the parlor. No other room had been welcome to the man. Ruvik’s orders and the balding man she still hadn’t caught the name of drawled as much in a bored tone before closing the door and leaving._

_The psychiatrist hardly seemed phased by the curt treatment, his nose already deep in Juli’s file._

_Juli, meanwhile, fidgeted uncomfortably from the couch._

_Each page he turned crinkled._

_Each tick of the clock reminded_ _her that life was fluttering away._

_Her medication was wearing thin, anxiety trailing its fingers below the surface._

_She was sure she was going insane just waiting for this man to speak._

* * *

 At the fork in the road, she took the path less traveled. Grass skimmed its blades against her bare calves.

* * *

  _“Miss Kidman… Do you consider yourself a happy person?”_

* * *

 Juli didn’t even see the mud hole, her running shoes splashing grime and water all the way up to her knees. The chill of water invading her footwear did not hinder her pace in the least as the woman darted through the taller grass. Brome waved its seeded tops with the wind.

* * *

  _“At one time, I think I was.”_

_“When was that?”_

_Juli paused, and realized that she couldn’t remember._

* * *

 Her eyes turned east as she ran, widening as her stride slowed with the setting sun to her back. The treeline gave way to a field of sunflowers gracing her with their brilliant yellow petals. She never could have counted them all as they gently waved to her. Happy flowers.  Happy to see another soul out in the sunshine while it lasted. Ahead, an open gate led into the field. Her shoes skid in the gravel as she turned without dropping speed.

* * *

  _“I see…” The sound of notes scratching on paper filled the voided silence. He evaluated her from behind his glasses, stern in expression._

_Juli huddled down closer to her knees, the pads of her thumbs absently pressing against her bottom lip._

_He made a thoughtful sound._

* * *

 Green and coarse leaves brushed along her outline as she ran, slapping occasionally along her shoulders. Juli paid it no mind, eyes focusing on something black jetting out of the ground in the distance. She darted across the field, curious of what hid amid the blooms of yellow.

Juli’s pace slowed to a walk as the flowers gave way to short and dry grass. Before her, what was once a building lay reduced to ruins. Burned to the ground, only one support beam still jetted toward the heavens in burned out black. She circled the perimeter, a few metal pieces of farm tools were found along the outside of the foundation in the dead grass. Kidman determined it had likely been a barn. She turned, perplexed. The squared off area around the barn was desolate in the middle of a field so full of life.

* * *

_"Your relationship with Louis Lazaro terminating is noted as being the pivotal point in which you needed care. Do you think talking to him could help you resolve some of the conflicts you are dealing with?”_

_“I don’t think so.”_

_More notes scribbled. “You spent several years together. Are you sure there is no chance of reconciling? Perhaps you and he just need some counseling. It could give him the chance to explain himself and set things right between the two of you. It would also give you the opportunity to apologize for what you’ve done. You have to face the selfish choice you made.”_

_She took Louis back a few times… even had a few good memories to flush down the toilet. It had always been fear that drove her back to Louis. Fear of being alone, fear of being an old maid with no husband, and fear of never having a family. She hadn’t really been occupied by her fears since arriving at the estate. She slept, she ate, and she occupied herself with books when she didn’t take her recollections out of their box to look at._

_What this man proposed…it smelled of ignorance. Though she had never reported Louis for abuse, this man hadn’t even asked. He would have had to report her former lover to the proper authorities._

_She watched the way his mouth twitched into the friendliest smile while he scratched more notes. It made her skin crawl._

_“I’m sure you two can make things work. I have faith in your relationship. When I talked to him at the hospital, he was quite upset about what had happened to you. He even brought flowers for you.” His certainty that she had simply overreacted filled the air like smog._

_The clock ticked._

_His writing scratched the air._

_Juli felt sick._

_Tick._

_Scratch._

_“This has just a minor bump in the road, Miss Kidman.”_

_Tick._

_Scratch._

_She swallowed hard, realizing that she would be the scapegoat if this man had his way._

_If Louis had his way._

_Louis seemed to have a way with people that she did not, but didn’t all sociopaths?_

_She wondered if Dr. Jimenez knew about this—if he signed off on what this man was implying too. That seemed unlikely._

_What he was implying made her mad._

_Really mad._  

 _It was enough for Juli to see opportunity. Opportunity to get rid of this dolt and Louis..._ _Ruvik saw himself as rescuing her from the hospital. A savior to her. It could be played into. A damsel needing a knight._

_Three birds, one stone._

_She could avoid being on the chopping block for Mobius if she had something to report on him. The thought of what could happen to her loved ones if she was given her pink slip in a shallow grave…_

_“You will have to work on yourself to make yourself happy and not put so much pressure on him to be the source of your joy in life. My wife is a wonderful therapist. She has appointments open on Mondays…”_

_Tick._

_Scratch._

_Who knows what they will do to them..._

_Tick._

_Scratch._

_I’m tired of being pushed around._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick…_

_“No.”_

_The psychiatrist took note of her expression._

* * *

 Hands resting atop her head, Juli exhaled deeply. Sweat rolled down the sides of her face. In the thin outline of what was once the doorway of the barn, she caught her breath and watched the sun sink in the western sky.

* * *

  _She doubted her ability to perform but raised her voice anyway, frantic and furious. “Louis was a slob who took advantage of me because he saw my desperation! He was a predator and he’s going to continue doing what he does so long as there is a woman enabling him. I had every right to throw in the towel. Attempting to kill myself was the wrong answer, but I had every right to walk out on everything!”  Her expression.  Ruvik’s words._

* * *

 A robin landed in the shade of the sunflowers, far too busy to pay attention to Kidman. Eyes closing, Juli basked in the warmth of the fading day. She tried to absorb every last drop of light. Sweaty and tired, a smile formed over her pearly pink glossed lips.

* * *

  _Shock overtook the psychiatrist’s face. “Miss Kidman, I just feel we need to do more than medication. Medication is a tool for recovery; it’s not all that is needed. You need to face what you have done.”_

_“You clearly are far out of the loop if you really think there is anything left to salvage. I get it; I’m not your patient. You don’t know me and you only have a paragraph’s worth of information to go on. Let me be perfectly clear: If I ever see that man again, it’ll be too soon. I don’t want to be anywhere near him. He robbed me as soon as I was in the hospital. He destroyed my life… God’s sake…” Rising to her feet, Juli made for the door. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”_

_“Miss Kidman, we still have twenty minutes. Dr. Jimenez insisted that I come all this way to evaluate your condition.”_

_She looked back. “I don’t require your services anymore. Please tell Dr. Jimenez that I will use the resources provided to me here during my recovery, but I appreciate everything he has done.”_

* * *

 Arms dropping, Juli’s sluggish gate carried her back to the wall of flowers. Her fingers gently brushed against the coarse stems as she began the long walk back.

She thought of Ruvik.

* * *

  _The psychiatrist hadn’t been far behind her when she exited the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pale face beneath a shroud of black. She hadn’t even turned around before all that could be seen was the back of a hooded coat in the doorway between her and doctor._

_Like clockwork, he’s right there._

_Ruvik’s head turned to regard her over his shoulder. Only the outline of his mouth was visible, amusement strung along._

_For some reason, it reminded her of a wink._

_He slammed the door behind him._

_Juli could hear the yelling all the way back to her room, hands fumbling with an orange bottle of pills. Stirring herself up hadn’t been the greatest idea in the world. Two pills rolled under the bed and she silently cursed herself for being clumsy._

* * *

_Maybe…I should bring some back with me._

Dying sunlight glinted between the sunflower heads as she walked.

_Maybe he would like that._

Her soggy shoes squished all the way back out of the field, lashes from grass still red along her shins. A bug’s bite led her to slap high along her thigh.

_Is it even appropriate to give a guy a flower?_

The curious thought of showing her gratitude was hard to shake. He was unlike anyone she had ever met before. She was so fascinated by him, even though their contact was at a minimum. She found herself prying about him more often than not. So sullen, broody…

_Dangerous…_

Marcelo’s warning still pestered the back of her mind.

She ignored it, sizing a flower with her hand before snapping the stem.

* * *

The door slammed against the wall it was hinged to with a crack. **_“Where is she?!”_** Ruvik’s roar laced tighter than a corset in furious tones as he emerged from an abandoned bedroom. His new favorite thing’s perfume still filled his nostrils.

An expensive brand, it had been Laura’s favorite. It had been years since those floral tones had graced his halls. How carefully he had tucked it on the vanity’s glass top while his newfound joy slept.

_It smells like rain and sunflowers, Ruben…_

_Laura…sunflowers don’t have a scent._

_Yes they do!_

His heart drowned, sank straight into his guts. An argument he hated that he’d won that day. Laura’s last birthday.

His new plaything had made it easier to forget.

_Harder to work…_

It amused him how he distracted himself. He’d watched her from the door hidden away behind the only tapestry hanging in her room. He watched how her fingers enclosed around the small vial, removing the cap and lifting it to smell.

His Laura doppelganger liked it.

She had dabbed it along slim wrists, the beautiful curve of her neck. His pupils were enormous when a finger brushed a line from her sternum to below the v-neck of her shirt. He had to look away. It almost sent him right over the edge.

_Too much, too soon…_

Now he couldn’t get the smell out of his nose and it only fueled his mania further.

The usual sounds below of staff working and conversing had suddenly hushed. The clock dared to make a peep, its defiant tick the only sound.

His kingdom knew its monarch well. Nobody dared challenge him, rumors flittered for months that he had killed Ernesto and Beatriz. God rest their souls… Who knew what else he was capable of?

Still, Ruvik paid the same as his predecessors. He still gave them vacation time and health benefits, which was almost unheard of anywhere else.

He was good to them…

Until he was like _this_ , rage holding the reins and riding crop to his mind.

Then he made Bloody Mary look like an amateur with a chip on her shoulder against Protestants.  

They knew the first one he found would have to answer for _all_.

Never be the first Ruvik finds.

Breath uneasily going down his throat, Ruvik’s nostrils flared after in exhale. Not a damn soul knew where she was?

_Useless…Every last one of them… completely useless._

He stormed down the hall, hood fluttering back to reveal every inch of his scarred and bald appearance. At the railing of the twin stairwells, his hands slammed their heels against the wooden railing. _“Every last one of you will be FIRED if no one answers for this! YOU ARE ALL REPLACEABLE!”_

No answer still, his nails drug trenches into the polished wood.

_She’s gone… That cockroach must have taken her back to the hospital after I informed him what I would do if he wouldn’t cease with his meddling. She told him she was done. This is Jimenez’s work. That valueless worm. I will flay him for taking her away._

Head sank between his defeated shoulders, Ruvik’s breath hitched as he crumpled against the rail. He was such a pitiful thing when enraged out of his mind.

It never took much.

* * *

An hour is all it took for him to find some bearing, hiding away in the dim light of his study. The orbitoclast’s sharp point spun like a lazy top against a pile of papers on his desk. Research notes and unpublicized papers… Ruvik knew none of his work would see the light of day under his name.

_Nobody who matters knows I exist still…_

His head tilted toward the door as voices warbled through the walls to him. Angry and distraught sounds were met by the tone he knew belonged to Nicholas who was no doubt defending his master.

_“How can you defend him? Look at this mess!”_

Ruvik’s lips twitched into a smirk, letting the surgical tool drop from his grasp onto the papers. Leaning back in his leather chair, Victoriano inched the wheeled chair to the wall for a better listen.

_“Perhaps all of you should have answered him when he called for you! This wouldn’t have happened if you did your jobs! You’re lucky he doesn’t fire you! Why is it when I go walk the damn dog all of you suddenly disappear as well? This is the fourth time it’s happened. You have nobody to blame but yourselves! Want a rag for the egg on your faces?”_

Ruvik snorted, a palm cradling along the scarred flesh of his chin.

_Nicholas…always ready to defend me with a tongue sharper than a sword._

Their anger wasn’t unwarranted, though they deserved everything they received. Ruvik had sacked the kitchen, dishes shattering and the pantry’s contents splattered on every wall. The pig prepared for roasting that night was reduced to a pin cushion for every knife he could get his hands on, skewers driven through its empty eye sockets.

_Those microbes deserve worse._

It would take the staff hours to clean up after him. They still had to prepare for the evening meal and his usual guests for a Saturday evening. His father’s friends, business partners in ventures the family took part in. Probably not Marcelo after this… He’d likely hide for weeks, praying Ruvik would forget about her.

_I won’t forget about this, Marcelo. I will wait until you feel safe again._

The chair creaked as he leaned back, resting his eyes.

_“Is he alright?”_

_“He’ll be fine, Miss Kidman. Everyone seems to be in the mood to test his patience today.”_

Gray eyes slicing open, he sat up from his lounging. His stomach was butterflies beating frantically as they suffocated in a glass box.

_“…I’m sorry if what happened earlier upset him.”_

_“Oh no, you are just fine. This was another matter entirely.”_

He pushed the chair to follow along the wall, ear against the wallpaper.

_“Please, go shower and prepare for this evening. You needn’t worry about our weekly dysfunctions.”_

_“Could… you give this one to him?”_

Ruvik’s brows knitted in confusion, voice a hair above a whisper. “Give me what?” The walls had no answers for him.

_“Eh… I… Yes. I will, right now. Off with you, then.”_

The chair pushed away from the wall to the desk just as the door opened.

Nicholas stepped in, closing the door behind him. “Sir, I hate to be a pest…”

Ruvik twirled the orbitoclast, a look of boredom smeared on his face as he read from a journal—absorbed in his work in every appearance.

The silver haired man bowed his head before speaking, voice low and calm. “I understand that you’ve had a very unfortunate day. She’s back, in case you were concerned.”

“I was.” Victoriano rose from his seat, papers and journals in hand. All were dumped unceremoniously into his safe. “Where was she?”

Nicholas hesitated, fingers worrying behind his back.

Ruvik’s stance turned, gray eyes set on the other man. He noticed the sidelong look and teeth nipping the bottom lip.

Silence filled the air between them.

The expression beneath a white hood stiffened.

“The barn,” An unsteady hand slid from behind his back, offering what Juli had insisted go to her benefactor: a sunflower, ungraciously stripped from its stock nine inches below its blossom.  Nicholas didn’t see any reason to cover further for the girl. If she wanted to waltz where she shouldn’t, she’d pay the price.

Ruvik’s eyes widened. The flower was bordering glowing in the warm light of the fireplace. His expression of shock twisted as his face up took fury. He went to his desk to gather other items needing to be kept under lock and key. He tried to control his voice. “She went clear out there?”

“She was covered in mud, sir. Shall I inform her to never tread out there again or would you prefer to?” The silver haired man slicked a palm over his strands.

Ruvik looked over his shoulder to Nicholas, dumping the last of the journals in the safe before locking it. “I will.” He retreated back to his desk, taking a seat again. Despite his efforts, he still found his dead gray stare fixing to the sunflower in his butler’s clasp.

Nicholas nodded, the usual curtesy to his employer given before heading for the door. “I will be up in twenty minutes, sir… to help you prepare.”

Ruvik’s eyes met Nicholas’ own. “Leave the flower.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Father was a stern man. Proud, and I thought intelligent. But he was also pious. A believer…much like the rest of these vermin that have more money than capacity for thought._

Underneath a charcoal black suit, his bandaging and behind folded palms, Ruvik watched those who sat at his table. He watched those that ate his food, drank his wine, and made idle conversation amid themselves. Small talk, he loathed it so. They all seemed to love it. _Like lunatics, they douse themselves in the gasoline of mindless babbling and light matches to themselves, like smoldering puppets on strings with their animated motions._ His gaze was nothing short of the scientist peering at organisms under a microscope. Their chewing, their laughs, their sloppy sipping of drinks while they marveled at themselves for their achievements and virtue. Virtue, given to them for the price of wearing a slim noose of golden chain with a cross pendant; the mark of their beast. Their chained symbols and voices rose like trumpets when met with skepticism and impartiality by any being with a frontal lobe that wasn’t dead tissue…

It all made him want to purge.

_They believe themselves as infallible as their faith… They’re deserving of nothing less than being strangled with the very chains they bound themselves with. The wretched things that ersatz place takes in… promising them salvation and eternal life so long as they whisper their crimes in a box to a bookie for God. Absolved of all that makes them wicked in rituals with no personal responsibility taken. There is nothing that place promises that I can’t take away—that I won’t take away._

Agatha Winters, thirty-eight and clearly drunk, laughed under her tresses of blonde curls next to the late Ernesto Victoriano’s former business partner. _What was his name?_ Henry… Spencer, he owned the sunflower oil plant on the other side of Krimson City. Agatha’s slim hand came to rest on Ruvik’s forearm, a brilliantly white smile on her face. “Don’t you agree, Ruben?” She had been after Ruvik for years, overlooking his appearance in favor of his wallet.

Women like Agatha came from old money like him, though her wells were drying up much faster. He vaguely recalled his mother’s warning of such women, something about being in heat like a farm animal. He gently nudged her hand away. “I wasn’t listening.” Brushed off, Ruvik turned his gaze elsewhere with an inward sigh.

_Money grubbing whore._

Victoriano’s lips twitched into a smirk at the sound of Nicholas’s snickering on the far wall next to the grandfather clock. Turning his head, he caught the sight of the butler marching toward the kitchen door before he completely lost all bearing.

Miss Winters apparently hadn’t caught what was so comical. “Is he alright? He always seems to need to dismiss himself.” Her haughty tone was another reason she had the attractiveness of a lamp post.

“Allergies,” Ruvik’s bandaged fingers reached from his glass of wine.

Henry paused before taking a bite of his salmon. “I do think the sunflowers are a nice touch, Ruben.” His knife was pointed toward the centerpiece in the table. “They look far better than last year’s crop if these were taken from the fields.”

“They were.” Ruvik’s lips fixed to the edge of his drink, drowning any further elaboration. Gray eyes set on the flowers arranged in wreaths, wrapped around the candelabras gracing the table. His stare ticked up to Juli on the far end of the table.

_She looks like a wilting flower clear over there. Poor thing._

He wanted her closer, where a wandering hand would relive the games he and Laura played at the table. Games his father always deemed…unnatural.

Juli had been silent for most of the meal, pushing peas around her plate. Next to her, Oliver Hodgins had tried to make idle chat with her. He told her how he owned a textile and dye business. Sunflowers seemed to have no end to their uses; he bought out what Henry did not for seeds. With the sweep for ‘natural’ alternatives that had taken the country by storm, he needed the surplus from the Victoriano fields.

_Father was intelligent enough to see the use for such a versatile plant in a world that is constantly growing with oxygen thieves who have cash but neglect to pay heed to science. Everything that is matter has chemical composition, but you won’t hear your local cult of cleaner living idiots letting you in on that little piece of reality._

Ruvik dismissed his own drudgery at how uneducated the world had become. It lined his pockets just as much as it did everyone else at the table.

“Officer Kidman, where do you attend church?” Oliver seemed absolutely determined to get the woman to talk after he polished off his fifth glass of merlot.

Juli’s mahogany stare lifted to the aged man. His black fuzzy beard reminded her of Louis. A wave of nausea rolled through her guts. It only took a turn of her head to realize all eyes were on her.

Ruvik leaned into the back of his chair, head tilting as what little visible expression wiped from his features. A digit of his ran its pad over the rim of his wine glass. A curious question that he needed an answer to as much as everyone else present did. He hid that curiosity well.

Juli swore her face was flushing red, feeling rather stupid for the answer she had. “I don’t attend one,” she replied simply. Suddenly she felt hunger, and a spoonful of peas entered her mouth.

Agatha’s smug grin spread in ruby red after she cleared her throat. “I heard that the quickest way an atheist finds God is when the barrel of a gun is pointed at them.”

A few people laughed.

Juli withered like a rose in October.

Dead gray stars regarded the bearer of such a poorly worded sentiment sidelong. His mouth moved to say something. Something painful. Something… very Ruvik.

“I didn’t.” Juli replied in the smallest tone. Her voice shook, but she spoke the truth.

Ruvik’s lips closed.

Hush filled the room, smiles dying down.

Eyes exaggeratedly widened, Kidman flicked a tear that attempted to well in her right eye. “I never found him when I had one pressed against my temple and I begged for my life, or when I carried twin girls out of the hovel that was their home.” Her gaze regarded Oliver. “Their father frequently raped them.”

The bearded man’s gaze dropped low.

Glass of wine swept into her grasp, Juli’s eyes met Ruvik’s gaze at the other end of the table in the quiet. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for in those gray wells. Help, maybe?

His sly grin was the _Pollice Verso_ she needed to twist her verbal blade right through Agatha.

_Off with her head, my little joy._

Kidman’s stare regarded the blonde woman, strength building in her voice. “I didn’t find him when I arrested a nurse for poisoning patients that she claimed she killed out of mercy. I never found him when hugging the huddling form of a woman who had just put a butcher knife in her husband’s heart for beating her bloody. The times she ran, he beat on their four children in a drunken stupor. She begged me to forgive her for what she had done. For defending herself and her children, she gets to rot in jail for the rest of her life. The DA’s office didn’t think she deserved less than that punishment.” A long swig of wine followed after.

Someone cleared their throat at the table.

Agatha’s shocked expression was the most decadent thing Ruvik had eaten up at his table in a very long time.

“So when you talk about finding God when death and corruption are constantly in your company: I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The room was charged in anger, slogged in silence.

The grandfather clock chimed that it was eight ‘o clock.

Every single member of the staff in attendance kept their eyes forward from their places along both long walls, gloved hands firmly cinched at the smalls of their backs.

Ruvik looked quite pleased with the dejected guises on most of the faces in the room.

_What an exquisite gift their terror of facing reality is. It’s not even my birthday._

A laughing hue filled his eyes, gaze towards Agatha to watch the woman’s ideology in its death throes.

Miss Winters quietly excused herself, heels like ice picks against the flooring as she departed.

_Oh dear, someone is unhappy._

Somewhere in the dark of his mind, Laura smiled under her dark hair at the woman putting every single one of those _frauds_ in their place. She approved, though a phantom she might be.

Nicholas appeared from the kitchen, shoulder pressed against the door as he gave it a push with coffee pots in tow. “Coffee, anyone?”

* * *

 

 “I’m such an embarrassment sometimes…” Juli uttered to herself, slamming the palm of her hand against the nearest post of the bed. The ache welled all along the delicate bones beneath her pale flesh. Once in her room, she took three pills without water. The terrible taste of the grain was still present on her tongue.

_Why did I do that?_

Her index fingers pressed flush against the sides of her nose, a deep breath taken as Juli calmed herself. That woman…she just sent Juli right over the edge. As if the blonde throwing herself at Ruvik with almost spilling out of her gown and constantly trying to touch him hadn’t been nauseating enough…she dared attack Juli.

_Jealous?_

She denied it, waving her intentions on behalf of Mobius in the face of the very idea. She was an agent with a job to do. There was _nothing_ to be jealous of. She couldn’t be bothered by it. She wasn’t part of their world…merely a guest to it for a brief time. A poor guest, in her own opinion.

_I’ll apologize to him after everyone has left._

Her dark eyes opened as she sighed.

_I’ll leave tomorrow. Go back to the hospital and get signed out. I need to get back to Mobius and get ready for this transfer…_

Split second decisions, a trait of her stress manifesting itself, had her mind reeling in racing thoughts. Sitting down on the bed, Juli sighed deeply in frustration.

_I’m a mess…_

A gentle knocking at her door brought her back from the inside of her head. Stepping across the threshold of the room, she gave the elegant handle of the door a twist to open. “Yes?”

Nicholas’ unmistakable profile was doused in the warm yellow light spilling into the hall. “Mister Victoriano wishes to see you. Now.”

Rocks tumbled to bottom of her stomach as she swallowed.

* * *

 

 The twin doors opened, Nicholas stepped aside to allow the woman passage. His blue eyes followed her and drifted past toward the baby grand piano and its player on the other end of the room. The sounds of Debussy’s finest work caused a smile to tic onto his lips before he joined the doors together and departed down the darkness of the hall.

Juli remained where she had stopped, eyes reaching their gaze’s grasp to the room. Sheet music was _everywhere_ : the floor, under coffee mugs on the table near her, and in piles under the piano.  She focused on the man behind black lid that was lifted by its prop. The music pouring from the body of the instrument was melancholy to her ears.

_He has some talent…_

Noticing he had an audience, Ruvik’s fingers fell stationary as his eyes lifted to peer at Juli. “Enjoy yourself this evening?” The light of the fireplace behind him darkened his sharp appearance to barely an outline. Though the amusement so often found on his face with her present was clear. It almost reminded her of the Cheshire cat and his disembodied smile.

_Eat me. Drink me._

His existence may as well have been her Alice in Wonderland disease. The brunette looked away, shame clasping her shoulders. “I… I’m sorry that I—“

“No,” he interrupted, voice stern and stark. “Do _not_ apologize for speaking your mind. Their contempt for free thinking is as vile as their misogynic upbringing.” Ice lathered the end of his reply.

Juli’s eyes lifted to him, glittering with tears as they rimmed themselves in red. “I just…” The things she wanted to say were lost in the fog.

Ruvik smiled to her, fingers rolling over the ivory keys of the piano. He slid to the side of the bench. “I have no use for apologies. Especially those in regards to thoughts that mirror my own. If they never come back to join me for a free meal, you’ll have done me a favor that nobody else has managed to.” He chuckled softly, imagining the very angry conversations going on in a few cars that were miles from his estate by then. The rumors would fly now. If a prayer circle ended up in his front yard, he’d likely send Nicholas to turn the garden hose on them. “Come sit with me. Be my muse for a while.” There was something inviting in the purr of his voice beyond the invitation found in the words spoken.

Inviting enough that she obeyed, walking over and sitting down next to him. So close, she could see how pale the angles of his face were under the bandaging. Almost as ethereal as a cadaver. His cologne, it was rich in spice…masculine. It sent a chill rippling down her spine. She lifted her gaze, finding his intense stare on her.

“Do you play?” He knew the song by heart; could do it in his sleep or blindfolded. His fingers knew the keys like brail.

Juli looked down to his hands, shaking her head. “No, I never learned an instrument. Lessons are expensive and my parents never had a dime to spare.”

Ruvik nodded in understanding. “That’s a shame. Everyone should learn one instrument in their lifetime. Science has shown what music does for the brain. It affects everything from the cerebellum to the amygdala.”

“I failed Anatomy Class,” she confessed.

His pearly teeth showed themselves from under the edges of his lips, arms widening their reach as the notes dipped between higher and deeper. “In essence, it improves the brain’s function from motor skills to helping cope with anxiety and depression. Some studies have shown children develop more quickly when exposed to certain kinds of music, though the jury is still out on the validity of it.” Ruvik’s stare shifted down to his work.

Juli’s head tipped thoughtfully, brown locks dipping with the motion. “What do you think?”

“I think…” His words paused for ten notes. “I should teach you how to play.” The fingers of his left hand swept from the deepest toned keys to the highest in one long stroke, the back of his arm shrouded in black brushing along her front.

Her hands gripped the edge of the black painted bench like a vice, the contact freezing her.

Dumb like a fox, Ruvik slid from the bench. His jacket was removed, a black vest beneath with his gray shirt. He let the lid down, prop tucked along the inside of the piano’s hollow body. Behind her, his hands glided to her shoulders, guiding her to sit in the middle.

Juli thought her spirit was going to rip from her bones and flee under his touch, body going rigid again.

“Relax.”

She inhaled as his hands slid down her arms to her own palms, shrouding visible blue veins. A marionette, she let him place her hands on the keys.

His digits slithered over the tops of hers, scars peeking out from beneath the bandaging.

She ground her teeth until they ached. Those hands felt unusually chilly in certain spots.

_Why am I so nervous?_

His nose brushed past her hair to the nearest earlobe, breath bathing over it as he spoke softly. “Chords are the easiest way to begin learning.” The pads of his fingers pressed down on hers to the appropriate keys, “G major…”

The brunette felt almost dizzy, swallowing hard. The room was suddenly entirely too warm for her tastes.

“A major…” Gray irises with burned out pits of black glanced to her sidelong.

She didn’t even realize her hands were shaking.

Ruvik’s finger brushed at the webbing between her index and middle finger, encouraging them to spread wider before he repeated the motion. “B minor.”

Juli wouldn’t have been shocked if her heart had stopped.

“Try those three.” He uttered, hovering over her.

She stared blankly down at the keys, cheeks tingling in red. She really did try to remember where he had showed her.

His evaluating gaze never left the woman, watching her fumble to recall. Wordlessly, he guided her hands back and pressed the backs of her digits. Repeating the three, his chest brushed against her back with his reach.

Timidly, she slid her fingers back to the first placement and pressed slowly. Hardly a sound escaped the instrument.

How she charmed him. “Don’t be shy… I sounded terrible for the longest time.” He quietly encouraged her, fingers pressing another chord nearby with a quick strike. The sound filled the air, harsh and loud. “There is no judgment during my lessons.”

_No judgment? What is he talking about?_

“It’s just us. You have nothing to fear.”

_Just us…_

Nearly light headed, she tried to mimic what he had done. The keys let out their tone staggered, she sighed.

“Keep trying.” His hands had slipped to her shoulders to rest, thumbs brushing a circular motion, blindly searching for knots in their radius.

Three fingers struck the keys at once, the sound blending flawlessly. Juli exhaled in relief.

“Next one.”

One finger was walked to the key next to where it first rested; his tutoring was patient…almost intimate. He was as careful in his instruction. He avoided generating a feeling of inadequacy in her like the plague. Lines were starting to blur and she hardly paid attention. A quiet fire had been lit in her stomach.

“Third one…” Voice barely above a whisper, he let her find it on her own. “Good. Now repeat all three.”

She obeyed him, feeling his breath on the nape of her neck.  Juli struggled to stroke the correct keys.

Ruvik’s hands slid down past her shoulder blades. “Take your time. We have all night to play.”

Juli suspected the comment was far less innocent than portrayed.

_Or my brain is in the gutter…_

She repeated the three chords.

He showed her another.

Awkwardly, she followed his lead and added it into her practice. Soon, she didn’t need his prompting to repeat the sequence of notes. It became less awkward, moving her fingers to press where needed. Then she felt his hands shift under her arms. Her heart was suddenly a frantic canary in a gilded cage.

Surgeon’s fingers rippled over her ribs like brushing dust from the keys of a long forgotten instrument. He grinned against her skin as she shrank back from those long fingers of his, her spine flush with his chest.

She gasped as those same hands slid to her front, cupping under the swell of each breast. Their dismay was felt, digits kneading against the fabric of her shirt and the bra beneath. Juli bit back a moan.

Ruvik’s lips drug along her neck, warm breath blown and causing her skin to tingle.  Then his teeth were on her nape, possessive. Nibbling, licking, suckling… dead gray orbs burned with their own wanton desires under hooded lids.

Juli’s breath ran itself ragged, the room feeling like an oven. Her hands refused to move from the ivory keys, eyes helplessly watched as the buttons popped open on her shirt one by one.

_Wait…_

His fingers were nimble, the shirt open and revealing what lay beneath to the air: dark red lace and pale skin. The fabric of the shirt’s collar bunched in his hand as he pulled it down to reveal her creamy shoulders.

_I…_

She cried out as Ruvik’s teeth sank into the slope of her shoulder, a pretty little sound doused in needs Juli wouldn’t dare be open about. She shuddered as the teeth relaxed their grasp, melting into Ruvik as his tongue rolled over where it previously abused.

He stopped suddenly.

Confused, Juli began to look over her shoulder only to see a leg sweep over the bench on one side as she was gently pushed forward.

Ruvik’s other leg followed suit as he sat down, straddling behind her. He went for the opening of Juli’s shirt, blindly, fingers wandering over her pale skin. “Why did you stop?” He asked nonchalantly.

_Why did I stop? Are you serious?_

Despite knowing full well that he was teasing her, Juli fumbled with her words to form a sentence. “I…” The clasp of her bra popped open easily, tension relieved.

He grinned wide, sliding a palm under the lace to the curve of her breast before wandering to the peak.

She inhaled sharply through her nose, a very startled note escaping the piano as her fingers jerked.

The pad of his index finger rolled over the puckered flesh of her nipple before his thumb joined to pull, and then squeeze… His free hand rested along her hip. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Juli’s eyes closed, back pressed against him once more. “No…” Her head lulled back, the curve of her neck resting against his shoulder. Her lissome form was so warm.

_…So tempting._

His pupils were enormous when she suddenly turned in toward him and fused her mouth to his, small lustrous teeth rouging his lower lip. Her aggressive bite between them, and they both tasted copper. A groan dripped from his mouth. Reluctantly, Ruvik opened his maw wider and allowed her to delve further.

_It wasn’t a dream._

He tasted every bit of what she remembered. Hot beneath his cool guise; fierce and unchained. She was a lotus eater, tongue rolling against his. He was ambrosia that would undo everything she was.

His free hand cradled along her jaw, thumb brushing the cheekbone above while the other continued teasing beneath loosened red fabric.

_It was him…_

She could taste him undoing the noose, letting her repressed and rope burned being free to breathe its cravings. Free to draw breath for the first time…in five years. Juli’s quiet fire became an undying blaze as her nails roughly grabbed the fabric of his shirt.

Ruvik broke the fusion of their mouths, forehead resting against hers as the sound of his unsteady breath permeated the sliver of space between them. The button to her jeans readily popped and the zipper went down easily. He strained to keep composure—strained to keep himself from acting like an animal. Control was fading.

_I can’t get enough of her…_

Everything paused, their lips barely touching. Eyes drifted shut as they both exhaled themselves and breathed in one another.

His fingers ran between her jeans and skin, brushing over the fabric of her panties hidden beneath. Lace and…

_Silk…_

There had only been one pair made of that material, in a hue that burned his soul to ashes. His hand suddenly shoved down between her legs.

She spread wide, thighs against his, willing as ever. Juli tilted her head to view him under heavy lids. Her long fingers trailed to his cheek. “I want to see you,” she whispered, the white stones of her nails dragging over gauze.

The blood in his veins froze. Ruvik’s stomach suddenly turned, his entire form halting. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears. His hands snaked from her body in panic.

_No… No, you can’t see me like this._

What had he expected, though?

Ruvik slipped from the bench, stepping back from her. He looked as though she had just struck him. The webbing between his thumb and index finger pressed against his mouth as he began to put more distance between them.

Juli realized it had to be…difficult. “I’m sorry, please don’t just walk off.” She pressed the matter, rising to her feet and following like a lost puppy. “I don’t care… I…just want to see you,” she cooed, affection strung in every note of her voice. She stopped inches from him, hands smoothing over his shirt.

Statuesque, he watched her fingers move up.

“Please…” Juli made to undo the folds that wrapped around Ruvik’s skull.

His eyes screwed shut. “Leave,” He whispered harshly.

She froze, hands receding as he moved away from her again.

He put his back to her at the fireplace. It was the only way to mask the scalding sensation forcing his expression to crumble.

_I would give you anything but that. I can’t… I won’t. You don’t need to see the monster._

 “Ruvik, I understand…” Juli’s brows knit and she was suddenly very aware of herself. Zipping the fly of her jeans, she snatched her shirt closed.

Victoriano was quick to smash her attempt to salvage the situation, peering over his shoulder to her. “Please leave, **_now_**.”

She was crushed. It scribbled itself all over her face. Swallowing hard, Juli’s mouth moved to say something. She didn’t know what to say…

His gray eyes pleaded with her to abide his wishes.

Juli gave up on the fool’s errand as her lips pressed into a thin line. Her submission was a sad nod, a muttered apology and trekking to the doors as quickly as possible. The doors shut with a click.

Alone, his exhale was unsteady. A shaking hand was curled into a fist, teeth sinking into one of the knuckles as he bit back every bit of agony that shred his soul to ribbons. He could still taste metallic notes on his tongue. It seared his mouth, forcing the memory of her teeth and tongue. So willing. She was so willing to have him as he was. No repulsion… she even wanted to _see_ him.

_I’m sorry, my little joy…_

He looked up to the clock on the mantle, catching a glimpse of himself in the glass of its face. Bandaging, flecks of scarred tissue…and dead gray eyes. It destroyed him. It made him angry.

The clock went into the fire with a crash.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

_Everything I have, everything I am, has been taken from me since the “accident” by those who seek to consume me…_

Laura’s ruby smile melted into Juli’s nude pink in the endless spaces between Ruvik’s thoughts.

 _She put scissors in their spines, gleaming in silver, for it. For Laura… for me…and I forced her to go away_.

Gray irises pitched their gaze toward the ceiling in defeat. Ruvik swam in his own misery more than the warm water of the tub. He couldn’t shake that _feeling_. That feeling of self-loathing that ate him from the inside out. It wouldn’t leave him alone. He put his fear before his little joy. A fear born in narcissistic strings from his ego.

_“You worry so much about your appearance…”_

A mind hidden beneath flesh and bone uttered its diagnosis of a bipolar disorder under the surface of schizophrenia. It was always there…lurking like a maniac in the back alley of his brain. It brought highs and lows, moments of passion followed by weeks of depression. Over examination of a situation, racing thoughts becoming intrusive…depriving him of focus and sleep. It was weakness…  Weakness that he hoped to cast aside.

_STEM…I will regain my face, recover what was taken from me._

It would change everything. It would change him. There were times that it made Ruvik nervous. The idea of who he was just snuffed out by a new face. Yet, every day he was a new person in his head…so it was a dismissible fear.

_Yet, it’s still there… It holds me back. It has to be what keeps me from completely staying within, keeps me from moving forward with the operation that will allow me to go in directly without needing to be sedated._

Fingers lightly tread the light reflecting off the water as he settled into the tub, nose blowing bubbles just below the surface briefly. An old game that had amused Laura so…

_Would my little joy have found the game so amusing had she saw what a **freak** I’ve become?_

His expression turned to stone, water droplets sliding down the angle his jaw.

It had been three days since she left.

_Everything I am…and all she wanted was…me._

Long fingers swept the water in an arch as he dismissed such a novel thing as a woman’s affections being anything in his spectrum of interest.

_Why do I care? My work, my ideas, my theories… they all will send me to dizzying heights and give me everything I want in the end. It doesn’t matter._

It mattered.

It was the only thing he could think about.

_She was just a distraction._

A very good distraction; even her absence distracted him. STEM didn’t call to him. Neither did his orbitoclast resting on a pile of papers still in his study.

_I needed her gone. I was only going to play with her for a few days and then send her away._

He’d sent her away, coward that he was. He could still hear her tears through the walls until those walls eroded and scurried in roaches that swallowed his form with their shiny bodies. He hadn’t hallucinated about the hordes of insects since…

_Don’t go there._

He bit his lower lip; biting back the guilt of memory.  Metallic notes only causing memories of her to drip in red from the creases of his mouth into the bath water.

_After I hurled her Lucifer heart to the earth…I couldn’t face her._

* * *

 

Nicholas assured that therapists were paid for in the city already and she would be fine.  A hard to reach psychiatrist, a soft spoken psychologist, and a few councilors of various backgrounds all would be calling to set up appointments. All received checks written by a Ruben Victoriano in fluid cursive from a steady hand.

It didn’t stop her embarrassment or her soft sobs.

Nicholas, the saint, had let them both down easy. Their backs rested against the wall dividing them. Ruvik sat in the dark of his hidden passageway with the roaches where he belonged, undoing his tie.

Juli looked down at her hands in the warm light of the room. Young scars warned her to keep it together.

He swore he felt her warmth through the wood.

_“Ruvik is eccentric and cut from a very different cloth than you, lovely girl. He is of the old world; sophisticated and his condition is not something to be taken lightly. You signed a non-disclosure agreement during your stay because of how different he is. The papers and the press would disgrace him if ever given the chance. He does so much for the city with donations and charities… it would be a shame if this slight on his part toward you destroyed his good name.”_

He wondered just what a woman like Juli Kidman would do when scorned, breath held when her muffled voice replied.

_“I’m not going to…do anything like that. I’m just…I don’t know what I am right now.”_

He swallowed hard in the dark.

_“If it’s any consolation, it never would have gone anywhere with him. He will likely marry a woman of wealth if at all. It’s how these folks stay wealthy.”_

It was true. It also infuriated Ruvik to be out made to be as witless and tasteless as his own father. He would avoid Nicholas for a while…until the urge to harm him went away.

Three days of wandering around in a daze followed after that night. He tried setting traps to pit new test subjects against…and ended up just ignoring the slaughter on the monitors. It had once sent him into a fit of shrill laughter between careful notes taken of their behaviors and reasoning skills being put to the fire. Marcelo had been furious. A tired hand flipped off the aged doctor’s back when he departed.  _Prick._

_What did I do instead?_

* * *

 

The third night, he stood in the doorway of her empty room. The bed was still unmade. That red _thing_ that had been made of silk and lace lay crumpled between the sheets. His hairless brows lifted.

_Had she left it intentionally?_

He glared at one of the staff who asked, in passing, if he desired the sheets be washed and the room tended to. Ruvik locked himself in the room, threatening a fate worse than death to anyone who jiggled the knob.

It was hard to say just how long he stood in front of the bed feeling naked and afraid under a grimy cowl. Everything felt awkward in the silence. Fingers curling into fists, his nails bit into the scarred skin as he approached…and gave into her.

Lying in the bed, he could smell her.

_Everywhere._

One hand pleasured, the other clutched that red wretched _thing_ against his nostrils. He breathed in her… all of her. Every inch of her filled his nose and shattered him.

“Are you really going to settle for those?”

A gray eye peered sidelong to the door and he sat up suddenly. “…You.” Ruvik was caught red handed with the red panties.

She didn’t seem to care. A sly grin on her features, Juli approached the side of the bed and slid onto it. Prowling right into his lap, her shirt came undone beneath her polished nails. “Don’t do that again…”

Pupils enormous, Ruvik nodded slowly. “I promise.” He replied, voice graveling the moment her bra slid easily off milky shoulders. Nostrils flaring with each breath, he reached out to her. He wanted to touch her.

_Everywhere._

Bite in exchange for bite until she left red dripping down his chin in her aggression, Juli slid into his lap. She played well with him, they shared the domination. Her hands held fast behind her head as he made her moan like a _fille de joie_ in a confession box with pearly teeth. She, in turn, rode him like he was her stallion to whip and spur clear across the finish line, white stone talons snaring his chin—forcing him to look at her.

Their deviance was hidden beneath a mutual dejected outlook toward the world, while they reveling in the beauty of their own gruesome natures behind closed doors. On the outside, she was like everyone else. On the inside, she was like him.

Morbidly like him.

Or like he was…she was younger after all.

It scared him.

It made him smile.

It made him laugh.

It had been what left a mess in his blemished hand.

Reality set in.

And he realized she had been nothing more than a phantom.

He shoved his face into the pillow that smelled most of her perfume and passed out.

_Sometimes it’s easier to just sleep._

* * *

 

There were some days he never wanted wake up. Sometimes he never wanted to leave the tub. This was one of those days, especially after waking up in that bed with nothing but the smell of his slighted little joy on him. But 30 minutes was the maximum he could do in his state. Even hydrotherapy had its limits for usefulness. It had been one of many of Marcelo’s gifts: an old fashioned burn unit tub for treating his skin problems. Tall backed and made of steel with arms that would elevate the tub to a vertical position so the occupant could leave with ease. It was one of the few places Ruvik found solace. He’d taken five more for STEM, writing a check that probably exceeded the value of the items. They were _perfect_ , however. Jimenez didn’t need to know that. Ruvik had dismissed question with a claim he wanted to replace _all_ of the tubs he used in the house with them.

_Do you still hate yourself when you have to play the fool, Ruben?_

His beloved Laura stood at the end of the tub, her hands resting against the rim. She was smiling.

Tired lids dragged over his eyes as a sigh rolled out of him. “No, I just am a fool. Go away, phantom.” Both arms came to rest on the sides of the tub, hands hanging off the edges. Water dripped occasionally from his long digits.

Laura sauntered around the tub, to his side. Her fingers trailed up his arm, blue eyes fixed onto him. “You miss her.”

He went rigid, gray eyes betraying him. “No.” Climbing out of the tub, Ruvik went for all he cared to wear in such a state.

Linen jacket; it went over his shoulders easily.

Linen pants; he forgot the top button.

Laura watched, though said nothing.

“I don’t miss her.”

Laura’s mocking laughter followed him all the way down the passageway of his hidden washroom. Sometimes even the phantom of her in his head couldn't help but laugh at his denial.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Theme: Roya—Fariborz Lachini_

" _They existed together, but each saw things in their own way. It was as if each patient's consciousness filled in the blanks, creating their own reality."_

_Test notes from trial 716-AX_

_Dr. Marcelo Jimenez_

* * *

 

_I…am such an idiot._

The memory of Louis' bearded mouth shifted to a scarred mouth rouged from her own teeth—Ruvik.

_That…was inappropriate. Just thinking about him feels inappropriate. I can't stop._

Mahogany hued irises pitched their stare toward the ceiling of the bathroom in loss. Juli couldn't quite say just where she was in her own head. Upset at her benefactor?  _Possibly._  Upset at herself?  _Defiantly._  She couldn't shrug that  _feeling_  from her shoulders. The one that didn't have a name but felt like hot tar leaking from her heart and leaving her stomach wanting only to rid itself of any contents.

" _Have you ever felt abandoned by the ones you trusted?"_

The memory of her interrogation for suitability to the STEM project interrupted her thoughts. Somehow…it felt fitting. Guilt rolled into her for feeling it.

_He owed me nothing. I don't have any room to be upset a billionaire kicked me out of his house. It's not like he hasn't sent apology after apology…_

Her eyes settled beyond the side of her lion clawed tub. A gift basket, resting on the antique chair crammed next to the shower curtain, was full of bath luxuries she couldn't have afforded. Items normally from a girlfriend during a holiday or…a suitor.

_He doesn't want to be a suitor. Get over yourself. He feels bad for making you feel bad. That's all. Be grateful one man in the world exists who feels bad for making you feel bad._

Two LUSH bubble bars greeted her with their sunny gold flecked micas from where they sat on the porcelain edge of the tub, unwrapped. She'd already used three others in the bath; letting them halfway flush down the drain before turning the water back on and using another.

_Maybe if I use enough of them I can wash myself of this feeling…or just make my house stink like an old lady's perfume box._

Juli's stare darkened, nails raking the bars right into the tub, unceremoniously, with a plop. More bubbles and the sweet smell of citrus surfaced as her naked form shifted in the hot water. Sliding deep into the heated water, she inhaled the fragrant aromas deeply before sinking lower. Blowing bubbles through her nostrils, Juli broke the surface for air with a small grin. A favorite game from childhood was reborn. A bubble beard left along her chin and neck, she laughed softly as the bubbles bursting tickled along her skin. She had to be a sight with rich dark hair and a stark white bubbly beard.

_Not like anyone is watching me._

The buzz of the doorbell off in the darkness of her home rang warbled through the walls. It didn't invoke a desire to leave the tub, only to inwardly sigh. Another buzz and she dipped under the water to clean off.

* * *

 

Tying off her bathrobe, the white stones of her nails raked through unruly wet strands as she approached the door.

_8 rings… Who the hell does that?_

"Probably Tatiana…worried sick," Juli muttered softly before raising her voice to an audible level as her feet pattered wet tracks on the wood flooring. "I'm here. Hold on." Three locks undone, she hadn't bothered to check the peephole. Cream white door swinging open, Juli stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hey, Kid."

Her expression went flat.

_Louis. Son of a bitch…_

She noticed he'd gotten a new tattoo along his neck and his ears gaged. Both things she had previously refused to foot the bill for.

_Oh look, a hipster style tattoo. Look how broody and deep he is. His new source of income must be buying the bullshit like I did… Typical._

Forearm resting against the door's frame, Louis ran his free hand over his well-oiled black beard. Strong and youthful features broke into a smile. "Haven't heard from you in a few weeks."

Juli's jaw set rigid, stare narrowing.

"Silent treatment? I guess I should have expected that out of you. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time." Louis diverted his green irises toward the interior of the darkened apartment. He regarded her robed form with a sigh. "Got my bike's papers?"

She managed to shake her head, a hand closing her robes shut at the neck. "I've… been looking for them." Her strength sapped from her voice.

"It takes three fucking weeks to find my papers?" He sounded unconvinced, expression hard to read with the light of the hall to his back.

"I…was in the hospital. I had an accident."

Tongue brushing the inside of his cheek, the dark haired man's arms crossed his chest. "I don't give a  _ **shit**_ , Juli. I just want my papers and I'm not leaving this spot until you give them to me. Mandy is waiting for me."

"Your new victim, Louis?" Snarky tones found their way from Juli's lips as she smirked.

His stare narrowed on her as he adjusted the collar of his leather jacket. "Hey, I didn't come here for a fight. I just want my papers. Give them up and I'm out of your life forever."

Juli gaped briefly. "That bike isn't even your property. My name is on it, Louis. The title is in my name, not yours. I paid for it. It's my property and I'd like it back so I can get rid of it. Don't you understand how any of this works?" She had barely had time to blink before she found herself on the floor in the hallway leading into her apartment. The familiar sting of the back of his hand wrought her right cheek.

"You just have to flip my switch, don't you?!" He strode in and shut the door as she slid away. "You can't just do what I ask. Ever!"

Retreating to the kitchen, she went for her cellphone. A hand snared her hair just a breath from the phone, yanking her off her feet. Slamming the back of her head against the oven's glass façade, Juli let off a screech of pain.

"You always make me hurt you, Juli."

_He has taken everything from me…_

Breath unsteady, she sat up and felt the back of her head. No broken glass.

_My dignity… My self-respect… My dreams…_

"You always have to run your mouth and just piss me off!" He found what he was looking for on the island of the kitchen, folded neatly in an envelope. "You should have just given  _this_  to me and I would have been gone." He waved it in her face before tucking it into his jacket. "You are just worthless."

_I can't beat him in a fight… I'm just not big enough to take him. I haven't even gotten my guns back from work or Mom. She was so scared I'd hurt myself…and here's Louis ready to beat me bloody. How fucking ironic can my life be?_

Dazed still, brown eyes opened under weak lids as she regarded him towering over her. His closed fists caught her gaze.

_Even if I can't beat him, I still can tear him to the ground…_

The memory of a sly wink when she dared to show gall...the fire lit quietly in her days before flicked its flames straight to her mouth. Gently, she responded to his accusations. "Yeah? You never could get me off so I guess we both are pathetic." Hands in her lap, she waited for him to respond.

The look on Louis' face: priceless.

_Do your worst…_

* * *

 

It all felt so surreal, like sitting in the back of a theatre watching her life happen without her input.

He threw her.

He kicked her when she was down.

He shoved her back against the refrigerator, sending her little collection of black cat magnets to the floor. A hand squeezing her neck, his intentions were clear as day. Her nails did their best to keep him from removing life from her husk.

She knew what was next, despite how she struggled.

Brass knuckles, they came from a pocket of his jacket…

The first blow was to her gut.

She threw up on him. No shame.

It only infuriated him more.

The second blow went for her mouth.

She roared in pain, so certain she'd lost teeth in the midst of tasting red and copper.

He grinned down at her wilted form, hand firmly forcing her to look up at him. "Got anything else to say, bitch?"

"Is…that all you've got, you broke dick son of a whore?" Juli spat blood in his face.

Shock erupted on Louis' bearded face. "You stupid cunt."

Between streams of crimson dripping from the edges of her mouth, she grinned in turn to him. "Go to Hell." Nails and fingers digging into his forearm, she wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.

The third blow, she saw stars.

The fourth, everything went black.

She hadn't slept that well in years.

_Sometimes…it's just easier to sleep._

_I…am such an idiot._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_Theme: Don't You Worry Love—The Cat Lady_

_(The theme was perfect for this gloomy chapter. XOXO—Jvalentine0)_

* * *

 Juli had no idea how long she had been laying on the floor in the divide of the light cast from above the oven and the shadows creeping their fingers from the bar parallel to the island of her kitchen. She thought the smiling black cat clock on the wall had chimed twice… or was it three times? Her brain felt five sizes too big for her skull. Cold sank straight into her bones; the house coat cutting high along her thigh was hardly long enough to keep her warm. She could hear the gentle dripping of something close by. Likely, it was her own blood leaking from her mouth, the taste of copper was still oozing on her tongue. Eyes slowly opening and closing, everything was a blurry mess where light and shadows were not good friends. There was one thing she could see, past the derelict remains of her beloved things shattered on the floor.

_He left the fucking door open…_

She closed her eyes, the doorway was empty. She opened her eyes and a blurry figure stood in the doorway, black as night. Juli held her breath, expecting it to be  _him_ , coming back to finish the job.

"Miss Kidman?" A worried voice…

Juli's entire body shook as she huffed in relief and tried to reply. Her only reward was to have pain realize she was coherent enough to feel it. Every inch of her body awoke with ache. The bones of her wrists screamed at her under their bruising. Her ribs whispered pleas to just  _stop_  trying to move. She moaned in agony, rolling away as she felt nausea overwhelm her senses, and purged despite her huddling. Blood and bile… a terrible mixture.

Footfalls, quick and hard, made their sound known on the antique wood flooring. "Miss Kidman, can you hear me?"

"Doctor Jimenez?" She tried to focus, reached out and failed. An unfamiliar hand on her wrist and lightning shot through the woman's form. Her head fell back against the marble of the floor with a yelp of pain.

"No… it's Nicholas. Nicholas Withers, we met at the Victoriano Estate. What happened?" The silver haired youth couldn't hide the worried tone in his voice as he propped her up with his arms. Glass crunched under his feet as he tried to be gentle about adjusting her.

_Just how bad did Louis beat me after I was out like a light?_

It was hard to keep cognizant. She heard him addressing others…whoever they were.

" _ **No**_ , do not bring him up now! There's broken glass everywhere. …I don't care what you have to express to him. Call 911." Nicholas' normally warm voice warbled in and out of volume.

She reached up to grasp onto the sleeve of his suit. "Please don't leave me…" Juli sobbed, tears already stinging down the sides of her face. "Please… Ruvik…"

"I wouldn't leave you right now for anything." Nicholas tried to smile, noting her delirium. He brushed a few sticky brunette strands away from her mouth, letting them frame her face. "Who did this?"

She couldn't stay awake…

"Juli?"

She did try. It was hard to keep her eyes open. Nicholas' visage faded into black.

"Juli, who did this to you?"

_Sometimes it's easier to sleep._

* * *

 "It's three in the morning, Juli." Marcelo replied. A look of relief had washed over his features as the woman woke and asked for the time with an empty voice. "I…don't think I know exactly what to do with you anymore." Like a father with a teenager daughter, he had more questions than answers. He thought he might find answers as the bottom of a Styrofoam cup of coffee as he slurped it down. The burning liquid peeled at the roof of his mouth unfortunately.

"It's not your fault." Juli mumbled, hissing as her tongue touched a spot on the inside of her mouth. Stitching had greeted and warned not to touch further.

"Louis?" The aged doctor's expression hardened at her nod. "Well, he seems not to know just what will land him in jail. Assaulting a cop that already had a restraining order against him sounds like the perfect way to do it. Mobius will be informed that you were attacked. I don't know exactly what they will do."

"Am I going back to Beacon?" She interrupted his line of thought with her chief concern.

Marcelo paused, lips forming a thin line. His fingers rotated the rim of the cup between his fingers. "Do you wish to hurt yourself or others?"

"Just Louis…" She whispered, a tear streaming down her bruised and battered cheek. The heart monitor on the other side of the pair quietly blipped that she was doing okay.

"Me too," He uttered softly, running a hand against his thinning hair. "No, but you are going to have to make arrangements to be somewhere safe until this stops."

"I burned my bridges with Victoriano… Maybe I can stay with Tatiana." Defeat hugged her shoulders as she stared up at the shadows scouring the ceiling.

Marcelo took notice of her dejected expression. "Did you?" Jimenez sounded almost concerned.

She nodded several times.

Pursing his lips, Marcelo gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I need to go address your KPD police chief before he busts down the door demanding answers. Try to get some sleep. I will call Tatiana in the morning and have her take an hour off to come see you. I know you two are fairly close. You can make arrangements then."

_Fat chance on sleep Doc…_

The thought of sleep made her nervous. Marcelo leaving made her more nervous.

_God… what is Mobius going to think of this? I'm their only agent on the ground monitoring relations to STEM and I can't keep it together. I'm supposed to know how to protect myself. Why didn't I fight back more? Why did I let him…?_

Reduced to tears, Juli was left picking up the pieces of her own mind—to try to find a way to put on a brave face. She'd need it for the music that was in her immediate future.

* * *

 Marcelo scribbled another prescription for a mood enhancer, wracking his brain for the best means to combine medications. "I just finished dealing with the KPD… Can't this wait until tomorrow? I am exhausted, Nicholas."

"No. He wishes to see her tonight. You and I both know how this will go, Doctor. He's out in the car, waiting for the hall to be clear and permission to see her." Trench coat draped over his right arm, Nicholas only had his left hand to gesture with.

 _Ruvik actually dared to come this far into the city? That's rare… That's a good sign but that is rare…_ Marcelo sighed deeply, playing what appeared to be a poor hand once again. "Just what happened? She feels as though he never wanted to see her again." Concern wrought his words. "I can't have his presence upsetting her. She's fragile and for God's sake she was just assaulted! Her mental state is so deteriorated that she, a highly trained police officer, was overwhelmed and beaten by a common thug!"

"I highly doubt she said anything of the sort to  _you_." Nicholas' clipped response hid a warning to the doctor.

Marcelo's face turned to stone. "She did. Why is he here? Why isn't he working? He got to play for a few days and agreed he'd be back to work after that."

"It hardly matters. You know just how far he will push you in order to get his way."

"Unbelievable…" Marcelo's expression was torn between utter annoyance and defeat as he scratched another prescription on the pad and handed it to the ER nurse.

"You published his work again…"

"Alright, fine!" The clipboard in Marcelo's hand was dropped on the nursing station with a slam before he stormed off down the hallway.

"Tell Leslie I'll see him on Saturday! I'm bringing donuts if you care to join us, Marcelo." With a rather pleased grin, Nicholas slicked his silver strands back.

" _Oh go to Hell, Nicholas!_ "

Three nurses were left caught in the crossfire of the exchange, confused as could be.

* * *

The sound of footfalls caused Juli to stir from her sleep. There was dim light cast from the moon in her corner and there were sunflowers. Five of all, their yellows shone brightly even in the shadows where her bed stood. Despite the pain, she turned her head toward the window. Her heart forgot how to function for a brief moment.

Ruvik, with a forearm shrouded by a well-tailored suit's sleeve against the window, was looking out to the lights of the city. The angles of his bandaged face were harsh in contrast of light and shadow. Even with it he  _still_  looked every bit the  _Adonis_  of his heritage. His thoughts wandered amid a vague comparison of such a place as the city to the brain in his own skull.

_Vehicles and their headlights…like messages sent between. It's almost poetic._

Ruvik turned his head to regard the sleeping beauty, only to find her wide awake.

Wide awake, covered in bruising. Her left eye was blackened. Someone had brutally left finger paint in shades of violet, blue, red and yellow all over his precious joy. Her throat bore the marks of hands that should not have touched her.

It had been too much for Laura's phantom, who had been rather smug the entire ride into Krimson City. She had fled out the door, as a nurse came in, the moment she saw the damage done.

He, on the other hand, was torn. Half of his being would rage against any dying light just to see the one responsible put in a shallow grave missing a head and all appendages. Every last appendage severed long before death. The other half wanted nothing more but to curl up and die. The burden was his like so many others… He sent her away.

_This…is entirely my fault._

Ruvik tried very hard to soften his stare. For her, he would try. He hadn't realized his jaw was dropped until she climbed out of the bed and made her way toward the bathroom in complete silence. He fumbled with what to say, watching her…

_Think._

"They're discharging you in a few hours."

She threw a glare to the wall opposite both of them, a hand on the doorframe. "Great, maybe my asshole ex-boyfriend will be caught in that time so I can go home."

A slam of the bathroom door and Ruvik was left standing in the dark. He was so used to it; he couldn't hold it against her.

* * *

 Juli emerged from the restroom, a frown stitched on her face. The damage was extensive, both to her face and her ego.

_What am I going to do?_

The curtain shading an empty bed opposite her own gave way as her bare feet pattered over the tile back to her bed. She stopped.

He hadn't left, merely found a perch on the window's interior ledge to sit and wait. The orbitoclast was flicking light off its edge with each rotation of its owner's skillful fingers. Like some sort of living gargoyle, a trick of the light allowed his gray eyes to hold an almost ethereal glow when they shifted from the busy city below to her. His coat was hung across the back of the only chair near her bed. A confession forked from his lips. "Nicholas told me that you called out for me in the apartment."

Her features became cynical. Swallowing hard, she shrugged on approach. "I don't remember."

"It isn't something to be ashamed of…Juli." Her name was rust in his mouth, disused and unwanted. Juli was such a common name. She should have been called something far more fitting of being his joy.

Something elegant…

… _Or joyful._

His feet clapped the soles of their shoes on the tile floor as he dropped off the ledge to stand.

"I wouldn't be." She crawled into the bed.

He sat down next to the bed, bandaged fingers coiled over one another. "Do you want something?"

Mahogany orbs glanced to him as she swallowed down agony. "Just for you to go."

She may as well have slapped him. His eyes aired every bit of shock at her confession. "Why?" Ruvik couldn't hide the alarm in his graveled voice.

Hands dropped into her lap, Juli just shook her head. "I don't want you to see me like this." She whispered right into a pained hiss. Glittering tears were wiped away. "I just… This isn't what I want you to remember me as."

Confusion furrowed Ruvik's brow. "Remember you as? I never intended to write you off."

"I just… I cannot handle someone seeing me like this. So battered that I look almost dead…" Nipping her lower lip, Juli winced. "Can you please just go? I don't need you to see me as such a wreck."

She had done a butcher's worth of a dissection to his spirit with her words, treating him like he could not understand. Ruvik ran the edge of his index finger against his lips, gaze steady on her features. For the longest time, he watched her as the silence devoured the space between them. He saw her, much as he saw her for the first time. The reality of their intertwined fates settled deep, and he wasn't so fragile anymore. "May I tell you a story first?"

Juli nodded, pulling the thin blanket up to her waist. "If you would like to."

The orbitoclast's one razor sharp edge sliced the bandaging from the back of his right wrist. "Years ago, two children were playing in a barn on a piece of property recently purchased by their father." His left hand reached for the fold in the bandaging at his right wrist. "They were a brother and sister. The sister was older, full of life and love. She would have been a politician or doctor when she grew up… So much to offer mankind…" Bandaging gave way to severely scarred over tissue.

Juli's eyes widened as the bare hand gestured for her own. Long fingers shyly slid into his hand.

His thumb wandered the peaks of her knuckles. "Her brother, he was a bit of a trouble maker. Occasionally he stole pig heads from the slaughterhouse on the property and left the brain in the mean maid's bed after she switched him across the ass for saying a dirty word."

The brunette woman snorted at the idea, her free hand resting under her nose as she shrouded a grin.

His own lips curled into a smile, the right hand slipping away to slice away the bandaging of his left hand. "He loved his sister…deeply. She was the light of his world. Everyone else saw him as some sort of little freak. Two parents who had little time for them… They were close." Old scars appeared much like those on the right. "The people of the nearby town, religious folk, didn't take too kindly to this wealthy family taking up all of the local lands… So while the children were playing…" Sitting back in the chair, he reached behind to undo the knot that held more bandaging in place. "They set the barn on fire."

Juli's eyes widened.

He unwrapped the bandaging along his ethereal pale throat. "The sister…she pushed her brother through a window in the hay loft as the flames rose higher and higher…"

Juli watched as each layer unraveled.

Like a mummy brought back to life, Ruvik unrolled the bandaging across his face and scalp…until only he remained. The remnants of wrapping hung loose around his neck. "…She died in the fire. My beautiful sister… Laura."

Eyes as wide as dinner plates, Juli gaped that the sight of him before her.

"You wanted to see reality…"

No words escaped her.

He continued. "That little boy never thought he would meet someone who…treated him as well as Laura did. Someone who just didn't care that he was different." Silvery gray orbs lifted their stare from the space between them up to her features. "Then I met you." Ruvik ran a digit along the scar of his left cheek with a sigh. "You and I… in many ways we're one in the same. You merely wear your scars on the inside."

She nodded, slowly.

His marred right hand stretched out, offered to her once again. Leading her out of bed and to the window, Ruvik stood at her back. His hands came to rest on her shoulders, small circles drawn in the radius of his thumbs reach. Their reflections stood bare against the light of the city. The light of cars coming and going twinkled against their outlines.

Juli melted into him, her back resting against his chest. She couldn't ignore how alike they appeared in the window's reflection: beaten and broken. She didn't know what to say and was fine with that. Turning into him, her nose buried against his shoulder. She inhaled him and nothing else.

" _Have you ever felt abandoned by the ones you trusted?"_

… _Not today._

Long fingers smoothed over her brunette strands and soon were lost in them from touch. He would have been a liar to say he didn't miss having her close. A broken heart beat faster in its barbwire cage within him. "This world will give us both what we are due, Juli." Her name tasted less like rust. "I promise that you will have your justice. Whether it's that of a god, man… or the Devil himself, you will have what you rightfully deserve."

She nodded against his shirt, tears glittering down her cheeks. "Can we go home now?" Her question was muffled from their contact.

"Soon, we will…" Ruvik's stare darkened as he held her. His ashen spirit wept for her… and it burned red with every bit of fury he had left in him.

* * *

 

_**See you soon…Louis.** _


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Theme: Without You—Beckah Shae_

* * *

_I can't remember the last time I held someone… Even my memories of Laura have faded into the black._

"You think…I'm some kind of monster." Ruvik uttered above the sound of rain pouring outside. Her silence since the hospital drove him to such accusations. He wanted to know her thoughts. He didn't know how else to get what he wanted. Push had come to shove.

_At least tell me if you find me to be a monster so I can stop leading myself on._

"No, I don't." The soft tones of Juli's voice swatted his accusation away like a gnat while she dozed in the hollow created by his arm wrapped around her. She shifted, white nails dragging over the black fabric of Ruvik's shirt. Her mahogany stare fixed to his as she lifted her head and peered up to him. "Monsters beat women."

"They look like I do, though." He glanced at his black Italian leather shoes, their color barely a contrast to Juli's couch. She hadn't wanted to go further when they arrived; he found himself tangled up with her there on soft suede after an awkward few minutes of conversation.

Awkward conversation led to her head on his lap where long fingers raked brunette strands away from her ear. Long fingers raking led to wanting to stretch out. Stretching out, he laid next to her, untouched. He thought he could hear his own pulse with the quiet that swallowed the small span between them. She had finally made him her marionette, lifting an arm and cinching it around to her elevated shoulder. Long legs tangled with his, sock covered toes running the length of his calf. He finally responded, pulling her closer.

Ruvik smiled at the memory, despite how awkward he felt. He didn't have a foggiest notion exactly what to do outside of his desires. Affection…it all felt so foreign.

The bandages were back. Ruvik couldn't have someone other than her seeing him as he was when he left the hospital. There had to have been thirty cameras flashing as Nicholas exited in front of him…posing as him. He snuck out a side door into his waiting car. Celebrity status that came with wealth…and he couldn't even enjoy it.

 _Someone snitched._   _Marcelo no doubt._

She sighed deeply, settled back down where his heartbeat was the only sound in her head. "No, they don't. You look like someone who cares about me."

Ruvik's lips twitched into a small grin, gray eyes settled on the television of Juli's apartment. The news rattled on about a fire; muted. Ten in the morning, neither of them had slept yet. "I cannot argue with you about this and win, can I?"

"No, you won't." She muttered, nose pressed near an ebony button. Her eyes briefly rested on the gun residing on the coffee table. Next to it: the silver hued orbitoclast. Juli had little idea of what it really was; only that Ruvik toyed with it constantly. He was proficient with a gun, no qualms about using one either. Her eyes closed, feeling safe again. "You should pay your guys more or give them the day off for cleaning my apartment."

His personal staff of two men and his driver had cleaned up the mess after the police had gone. The scent of bleach still lingered on the floor of the kitchen. A shattered black cat peered out of the trash can at the pair.

Ruvik chuckled softly at her gentle little demand, fingers tracing from her elbow to the peak of her shoulder. "Telling me how I should conduct business now?"

"No, they were just really nice for doing it." Closed lids lifted to reveal two deep brown eyes. "If you don't, I will."

"They have the day off, do not fret." His exhausted eyes trailed about the living room, unable to hide their devouring of the view. Soft colors, small pictures dotting the walls of vacation photos; a black cat in an equally black frame stood out. No family photos; he took note of that. Baubles and faux roses in vases dotted end tables. Ruvik tried hard to imagine her living there. Imagine her doing laundry, paying bills, eating; mundane things. He couldn't filter out the idea of her eating alone in the dining area, tossing down her fork with a sad sigh. The same man that tried to strangle her; he was a no show for a nice meal. It made Ruvik jealous, possessive and far beyond infuriated. She was  _his_  now. All his.  _Nobody_  would ever touch her again.

It all rippled below his surface.

Lurking.

 _Whoever tries again had better be ready to pay the price. I_ _**will** _ _see you soon, Louis._

Her sleepy voice called him back to her side from the darkness of his daydream. "Can we go to bed? I don't think the chief is going to call."

Less mundane things crossed his wary mind, those polished nails of hers sending a chill down his spine as her hand moved. "If that is what you wish." Untangled, he followed her into the bedroom, hairless brows lifting as he stopped. More soft colors, mostly gray. The hue reminded him of his own dead gray eyes. She had always been under his stare in some abstract way. For some reason he was surprised at the choosing of a red comforter on the bed.

_Same shade..._

His stare dipped to the floor and then away, a memory pertaining to a pair of panties and just what he did with them wouldn't leave him alone.

Half awake, Juli dug through a drawer. "I doubt you want to sleep in slacks. You don't look much bigger than I am."

He wasn't quite sure how to take that. Ruvik looked down as she placed a folded white t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants in his hands. A scarred thumb receded from the fabric, revealing the face of a yellow duck printed on the fabric; one of many. He looked up to her.

"They're oversized even on me." Her fingers raked strands of brunette back; awkward.

"Why ducks?"

She shrugged, moving back to the two handled bottom drawer to dig out something for herself. "I…don't know. I think they were a Christmas gift from Mom. They're the only ones that don't have cats or pink on them." Red stung her cheeks as Juli half considered trying to crawl into the drawer to hide her blushing.

A question came to his mind as Ruvik stared at the ducks and they stared back at him. "What's your mother's name?"

"Angela. The bathroom is down the hall." She gestured with an outstretched hand, blindly. "On…the right."

Ruvik furrowed his brow, said nothing further, and followed her directions.

_A nerve hit?_

The nerve must not have been that badly hit. When he returned lacking bandages but plenty of ducks, she was giggling. He inwardly sighed in response, not entirely fond of his normally intimidating and sophisticated persona with egg on its face due to a flock of yellow water fowl. It hardly mattered as he looked to her. His stare lingered briefly on the curve of her rump under a horde of felines inked on fabric. The white shirt she wore was tight, very tight in all the right places. A cruel fox grin on his lips must have been noticed.

She went from pale to beet red, clearing her throat as she looked away. "Nice ducks."

A dry look crossed his face as he looked down to himself. In a flat tone, he only had one reply as he turned down the sheets and crawled in. "Quack."

* * *

"Angela isn't really my mom… and her husband, Mark, isn't really my dad. They're in their seventies." Juli confessed in the quiet of the gray and rainy morning. He had given her a truth. It was her turn. The lines on her canvas were doused in turpentine and smeared by his hand now. She really didn't know what would give her away. She didn't care because he cared. He made her feel safe; safe enough to be herself…safe enough to tell old stories. "My real parents… I can barely remember them anymore. I know they didn't love me. Not the way Angela and Mark do. At fourteen I left, leaving only a note." Her voice cracked. "I wrote that I'd gone to heaven."

Silence on Ruvik's end.

"When I began working at the police department, Angela came in trying to file a missing persons report for her cat. I was so…taken by how gentle she was. I called animal control and they had her kitty. He is this fat black cat named Rupert. He wears a red bow on his collar. If I could have a cat…I would have loved to have one like him. Angela…kind of adopted me after that day."

The sound his gentle breathing filled the air during her pause.

"I lived on the streets until I was eighteen. Showered at gyms, slept in emergency room lobbies, got my education and went to the police academy."

Ruvik's arm slipped under her neck, pulling her into him.

Her stare narrowed as she tried to recall her darkened past, the sound of his heartbeat filling her ear. "I was originally from Elk River. I remember when I was five there came a plague taking our livestock. And with that, many took their lives. I remember at seven Mother turned to the church. Their symbol was etched in her mind."

A brow lifted.

"That church… Mother was  _obsessed_  with it. I couldn't bear it."

Ruvik's black heart burned in his chest. He gently hushed her with a digit pressing against her pouty lips. No more today, Juli.

_There is only one church near here that could boast such zealotry: the one that tore my family apart. Elk River…the monsters that killed Laura came from that witless village._

Her nose rested against where a pulse was visible on his throat, exhaling warm breath. She was gone to the only heaven she'd likely be sent to: the one that existed in her mind.

_My little joy…couldn't possibly share their blood. No, there is no way. I'm just paranoid._

Ruvik's arms squeezed her close, nose lost in her strands of brunette. She trusted him enough to tell him. He wouldn't squander that trust. He began counting backwards; the only remedy for falling asleep. Eventually, his lids felt heavy. There was no heaven in his head that he could escape to. The only one he'd ever be sent to was when he was alone…

_With her…_

Her name was no longer rust and filth. Its texture was not a razor against his tongue anymore.

She was his Juli. His joy.

Juli.

Juli...

_Juliet was a Juli…_

Did that make him her morbid Romeo? He did bear an 'R' to every name that was his.

Ruvik wrinkled his nose at the notion, shaking his head and closing his sleepless eyes.

And at sixty-seven, he found heaven.

* * *

Ruvik woke with his nose in her hair, his arms around Juli's lithe form, and her back to him. He had refused to let her go, even in his sleep. She was so warm where he constantly felt cold, robbed of the ability to regulate his body temperature. He quietly watched the way her form fell and rose with each gentle breath. At four he felt her stir and his mouth blindly sought out the curve of her beautiful neck.

Outside thunder clapped in the distance, rain still pouring over the quiet neighborhood she called home.

Gently, Ruvik pressed his tongue over the bruising along her throat. She was fragile in more ways than he could count. He would have to play carefully. He couldn't afford to misuse his apology for turning her away; for assuming she would see him as a monster instead of a man.

Juli's fingers curled at the hem of the pillowcase, her entire form melting into him when sharp teeth possessively grabbed at the nape of her neck. She was wide awake then.

 _God, how did he know that turns me on?  
_ Scarred digits trailed her ribs, under the shirt, causing her to writhe. The same skilled fingers wandered over puckering nipples, teasing each between index fingers and thumbs. Rolling, pulling…almost milking each. He loved teasing her so. Those same impossibly long fingers trailed down and thumbs hooked the elastic of her pants, pushing them down.

She squirmed right out of them after.

A calm hand trailed along her flat stomach and then down to touch the interior of her thigh. Ruvik snickered, as she muttered how she wished she'd shaved her legs, drawing the leg back over his own thigh. "Still feels soft."

Juli was left to blush under hair piled over her face. The camouflage of it was brief; his fingers pulled it away to reveal her red features. "I don't know…" She breathed.

Curiosity filled his expression. "You don't know what?"

She diverted her stare to the headboard, swallowing hard. "I…just look…" She sighed; insecure.

His fingers guided her back to him. "You  _are_  beautiful no matter how many scars the world leaves you with." Ruvik's graveled whisper was followed by an absent clearing of his throat. "I wish you could see that."

Juli nibbled her bottom lip; no response found other that her nose pressing along his chin.

"Trust me."

  
So, she did.

Games of blades and blood he was so used to were replaced with gentle hands, sharp teeth, and her heated whispers to nameless gods. Ruvik treated her like she was made of nothing but glass until she wasn't. Then, his teeth left red water color on her pale shoulder. Fingers slid between her legs, slowly seeking and searching for those places she loved to be touched. He wanted to know them all.

She let him know with each gasp and moan that dripped from her blushing lips.

He found them, meticulous as he was. An arm across her chest held her fast while Ruvik played.

Juli whimpered, twisting to the brink of breaking free of his touch only to come back to him. She smiled under her tresses of rich brown as he whispered softly in her ear.

He told her how beautiful she was, long fingers walking past the skin of her thigh to explore between her legs.

" _No one is more beautiful than you are right now."_

Her breath grew unsteady, legs squirming to be stable as two long fingers moved past  _mons Venus_ to spread her lips wide. The pad of a skilled third digit stroked over the one place where a note he never heard before sang from her throat. Juli coiled her fingers around whatever she could: the sheets and his shirt.

Ruvik only grinned like a fool, with his chin over her shoulder, as he watched her rock against his hand. His fingers smoothed together, slowly brushing in unison over her pearl and petals. He wasn't trying to get her far, only enjoy the spectacle of her.

Her head thrown back.

Softy muttering his name…

Begging him not to stop…

_Delicious._

Juli thought she was going to lose her mind, eyes screwing shut. Labored breath, everything in her felt as though it was unable to behave. A muscle in her right foot burned from too tight of a curl to the appendage. She wanted to reciprocate, entice him as much as he was her. Her hand snaked between their bodies, finding him hard and at the ready.

_When did he kick those pants off?_

He shifted, pulling her leg back again as the head of his cock settled between those fleshy pink lips of hers. A forbidden pose they lay in, he'd only read about it in a book in dark hallway once upon a time. He didn't wonder if she was experienced. She was his now. Ruvik's pupils dialed as their gaze met, an unfamiliar look appearing on his face. His nostrils flared.

_Arousal._

He pressed slowly, though wasn't quite ready... even though she was already dripping ambrosia for him.

"Ruvik…  _please_." She whispered, needy and desperate. Juli cried out as his teeth sank again into a spot he couldn't stop leaving love bites. His eyes never seemed to leave her. She gasped as his free hand suddenly went to her throat and he pulled her close; her ear to his lips.

His lips ghosted. Breath warm and leaving skin tingling. "Every place that makes you howl; I will  _burn_  the memory of my name into it." Ruvik growled, grinning wide as her breath hitched. He sank into her; slow.

She gasped, eyes wide to the window gray with fog and rain. Lids slid down over brown and spooked orbs as a tongue lapped along her bruised throat, attempting to appease her. She offered her neck with a tilt of her head, submitting.

He settled inside, and then began to move. There was a savageness to the way he moved, spreading her wide from within. Other men would have needed to marvel at themselves, to watch themselves vanish inside. Not Ruvik. He only needed to watch her, to watch the way she was driven to the brink of some sort of abstract insanity by him.

The beautiful arch in her back.

Juli swore she was going to snap into two.

Feeling the way her muscles tensed around him in a pleasurable vice. She would undo everything he was.

Juli's breath dotted in soft little cries with each slow thrust. Ruvik's hand remained at her throat, holding her fast. His girth buried deep, hot and hard. He was ozone and chocolate: dangerous, but she couldn't help wanting another bite. She blindly found his mouth and gave him exactly what he wanted with pearly teeth.

A yelp escaped him, tasting pain and red as she ravenously bit down. His tongue caught the drooling and sticky liquid only to shove it right into her mouth. A cut wept more. A stitch inside her mouth popped. Their war waged between lips and tongues smeared it over their maws. Ruvik lost control, shoving to the hilt with gritting teeth.

A shameless sound escaped her, torn between a scream and moan.

He did it again. Over and over. A hand holding her leg steady dug trenches in the pale skin.

Juli's bated breath gave way to mewling. Every muscle in her body quaked, driven to its own lunacy by every inch of him. She tried to bite back another moan when his pace slowed. She failed miserably, almost intoxicated by what he was doing to her; cock dipping so deep when his hips buck against her. She turned her head, nails against his chin. "Ruvik…"

His mouth devoured hers before she could utter another word. Long fingers coiled along the flesh of her hip, smearing the sheen of sweat along her lithesome form. Ruvik…couldn't get enough of her. The fragrance of her everywhere, the way her leg clung to his thigh. …The way her voice sounded when she uttered his name. Gray eyes focusing on her, his own breath hitching for a note.

Red smeared all over her mouth and lips, Juli looked more like she'd just eaten the hearts of her enemies rather than in the throes of intimacy.

It made him throb, the idea of her being some vicious creature that allowed him this moment. His mouth left gentle affections along her jaw, murmuring softer affections. There was so much of her left to explore: mind and body. A pace resumed soon grew erratic.

Her nails were on his chin, forcing him to look at her.

He almost lost his mind from that alone.

Swallowing their equal parts of pride gave them a freedom neither could have fathomed.

She found herself on her back, him on top, the sky growing darker outside. The previous pose had been exhausting.

A streak of lightning illuminated half of his face. Ruvik immediately picked up the pace.

Juli's nails found his chin again, refusing to let him go. She drowned in his touch when gentle and scarred lips brushed a tender kiss along the pads of two fingers. It was the combination to release the lock. Clenching, back arched, she sweltered until she wept in orgasm all around him with her face buried against the slope of his shoulder.

He wasn't far behind; her tired but tantalizing voice begging him to finish inside of her. He did, buried to the hilt within of her; ruthless. Later they'd remember the error and worry then. In that moment it didn't matter. Forehead against Juli's, Ruvik panted softly. Her gentle mouth pressing kisses all along his own caused him to smile amid his own exhaustion. Pearly teeth were visible in the gray light cast from outside. He retrieved himself with a hand on the base and fell back onto the bed next to her.

* * *

They murmured softly in the dark to each other, thick as thieves. He took her again after midnight. Once more at two.

With her, he felt alive again. A broken heart would begin to mend.

With her, he was almost whole.

With her, Laura slept peacefully and left his mind alone.

He hardly could recognize himself as this.

With her, he was almost Ruben again.

Almost…


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_I can't cook…_

Trash can lid flipping up; Juli dumped another attempt at an omelet into it. The stink of previous, and mostly burned, attempts wafted into her nostrils. The fan over the oven was kicked on high with her effort to relieve the kitchen of some of the smoky stench. With a heavy sigh, she put the pan in the sink to let water run into it. Deep brown eyes wandered to a menu for takeout next to the sink, forgotten from the day before.

_Nobody delivers breakfast. I could start a massive breakfast delivery service and retire at thirty._

"What smells?"

Thoughts of becoming a breakfast tycoon were put aside. Juli turned, resting the small of her back against the sink. She peered at one very sleepy Ruvik approaching. His legs were still covered in happy little ducks. It made her smile. "That would be Juli Kidman's famous destroyed omelets."

"Oh." Ruvik cast a glance to the trash can, lips pursing briefly. "Couldn't be worse than my exploding muffins." His lips twitched, a little more on one side than the other, as he grinned at the memory. The chef had cursed him for a demon; the entire interior of the oven had been baked in black and breading.

"That sounds more entertaining than terrible." She smiled fondly; gaze downcast as she turned away. Trying to scrub the pan, she paused when two arms snaked around her front, palms flat against her stomach.

Ruvik wasn't entirely sure what to say at that point, favoring his nose against the slope of her shoulder. Everything his brain formulated sounded inappropriate.

For what it was worth, Juli didn't know either.

_Think._

"Did you…enjoy it?"

Juli swallowed hard, nodding several times. "Yeah… I did," she replied, a soapy hand lifting to rest against one of his palms. Her thumb traced over a scar absently. "D-Did you?"

He nodded. "I did."

She exhaled a sigh somewhere along the lines of relieved. "I—…"

A knocking at the door turned both of their heads.

* * *

"Finally! I've been out here for ten minutes. What's going on with you?" Tatiana Gutierrez was in rare form for nine in the morning. Cigarette hanging from her lips, her nursing cap dangled from long and well-manicured fingers. She rubbed the fingers of her free hand under her glasses, pinching an unseen pain between her eyes. "I had the  _worst_  night at work."

Juli pressed her lips together in a thin line, white nails clicking against the door she peeked out of.

"What? Aren't you going to invite me in?" The brunette woman in the hall flicked a bit of ash onto the carpeted floor.

"Uh, yeah… sorry." A quick glance was given to the bedroom door, watching it close. With that, she opened the door wide. "I had a quite a night."

Heels clicking against the wooden floor of the apartment, Tatiana relieved herself of her knitted jacket. "I heard. Doctor Jimenez showed up at the hospital and told me what happened. You're welcome to come stay with me, though I don't think Louis will be back." Dropping the jacket on the black ottoman, she turned to get a good look at her beloved friend. "You look rather chipper this morning, though." Lifting a brow high in skepticism, Tatiana blew a ring of smoke. "Almost glowing under those bruises…" The knowing tone in her voice was bordering smug.

Juli's gaze followed sidelong. "Coffee?" She was already on her way to the kitchen.

"I would  _love_  some coffee…" At the island of Juli's kitchen, Tatiana was presented with an ashtray set before her as she took a seat on one of the stools. Behind her glasses, the brunette watched Juli fill a mug with the ebony beverage. Legs crossing, a heel dangled from her toes. "There is a rumor flying around Beacon about you, you know."

"Oh boy, a mental institution having rumors… That never happens." Juli said with a sigh, pouring half and half into a mug covered in black cats.

The brunette with glasses grinned. "No, it's about your new friend…" Ash plopped into the tray.

Juli's pulse skipped a beat.

Tatiana took a drag off her cigarette. "So…are you going to tell me about this stranger? I've heard rumors of him showing up at hospitals in the dead of night to take beautiful women back to his creepy house."

"There was more than me?" Juli sounded worried.

Tatiana's ruby red lips turned into a sly grin. "Not that I've heard of, no. So, it is true that you were whisked away from the looney bin for a few days."

Red stung Kidman's cheeks as she set the mug before her oldest friend in the city. She couldn't hide the truth from Tatiana. The woman knew her too well. "I… Yes, I was but not the way you're making it sound."

"Ooh, I need to know details."

"No, I can't tell you." Juli hissed, concern strung through her voice as she returned to the sink. A quick scrub to the pan and she tossed it into the dish washer.

Tatiana looked almost wounded. "Why not? I'm your dearest friend in the whole wide world."

"Yes, you are."

"So… Tell me." More ash flicked into the tray.

The sound of the bedroom door opening and the bathroom door closing did not go unnoticed.

Juli's blood froze.

Tatiana's jaw dropped. Her voice was hushed to nearly a whisper when she spoke. "Oh my God, he's here. Isn't he?"

Kidman's face never looked so red.

"Well well well…" If there was a picture next to the dictionary definition of a smirk, Tatiana's Gutierrez's expression would have been there at that moment. Dead silence engulfed the air in the kitchen. The black cat clock on the wall meowed that it was nine thirty. The sound of the shower kicking on caused Tatiana to snort. "I'm sorry. It's just too funny."

Juli, frazzled as ever, couldn't help but laugh. Pouring herself a mug of coffee, she let out her air. "It's been…an interesting two weeks."

Brows popped, Tatiana couldn't agree more with her appearance. "I'll drink to that. I'm sorry I was on vacation and missed all of the drama. Well, I would have been here and shocked Louis to death with my Taser anyway."

"That would have been welcome. Mom and my new police captain had my guns."

"Oh God… So you were completely unarmed? Christ… Juli, I am so sorry." Lips nipped by the heat of coffee, Tatiana pressed the ruby red pair into a thin line. "Look, the Halloween party is in a couple weeks. You should come with me and get out of the house if you're not working. And…if you can drag yourself from your mysterious new beau, I think we should have a bad movie night or two. "

Juli's brows rose as she took a drink from her coffee. "Bad movies… If it's just more zombie flicks I think I'll pass."

"Oh, you are such a stick in the mud. We laughed so hard at that B-rated one last time."

"It was about zombie strippers, who wouldn't laugh?" Juli snickered, spooning more sugar into her mug before joining her friend at the island of the kitchen.

"I found another one called  _'Redneck Zombies'_. I thought you might get a laugh out of it. I also found  _'Gang of the Dead'_ , which looks hysterical since you're a cop."

Juli grumbled with a sigh. She wouldn't win. Tatiana wouldn't give up. "Fine, we'll do a bad movie night."

"Wonderful. I don't work on Friday night, so if you wanted to do it then…" Her head turned as the bathroom door opened.

Ruvik stepped out from the hallway, bandages covering his face and arms. Dressed in his suit from the day before, he gazed at the pair in the kitchen.

Tatiana shifted her stare from him to Juli, smirking. "Your ears are red."

If there ever was a time Juli wanted to pinch the nurse, it was that moment. Her cheeks burned red as she lifted the mug back to her lips. "Very funny."

Cell phone fished from the pocket of his slacks, Ruvik checked for something as he advanced toward the kitchen. "My car is downstairs already."

"Okay…" Juli couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

Tatiana couldn't hide her endless amusement at all of this. As he approached them, she stuck a hand out. "Hi, I'm Tatiana Gutierrez. I work out at Beacon Hospital."

Ruvik's palm stretched and gently exchanged the appropriate gesture of greeting. "I know who you are. Doctor Jimenez speaks highly of you."

That caused a brow to rise. "Oh, he does? Usually he's prattling that I don't do my job up to his standards."

Ruvik's lips twitched into a smirk. "He's a prick."

If anyone could win over Tatiana in less than twenty seconds, it was him. " _That_ …he is. And you are…?"

"Ruben Victoriano."

Tatiana's jaw relaxed.

Ruvik continued, slipping the phone back into his pocket. "Marcelo thought you might be a better assistant for my research than he has been. I need someone who can tear themselves from the hospital for a long term project."

"I… Yes, I definitely would be a better assistant. I'll have my resume ready." Tatiana was quick to offer her services, pearly smile found under her red lips.

"Good. He'll let you know when it's needed." His dead gray stare regarded Juli. "I should start making my way downstairs."

"Oh, right." Mug rested on the granite top of the island, Juli slid past Tatiana. "I'll walk you out."

"That's unnecessary." Once she was within his wingspan, a gentle hand rested at the small of her back. Ruvik's free hand cupped the side of her face, thumb brushing along the corner of her cheekbone. He gazed at her for a moment. "Your ears are red."

"Told you." Tatiana's cruel fox grin could not be sunk behind her mug of coffee.

Juli could have died on the spot from embarrassment. "You both are mean."

Ruvik snickered softly, lips pressing a gentle kiss against her mouth. "I'll call you later."

"Okay." She nodded.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Tatiana couldn't contain a giggle. "Oh ho ho,  _Juli Kidman_ … My my…"

"It's not what you think." Juli said, picking up her mug and strolling toward the living room.

"What's not what I think? That you jumped into bed with more money than any of the rest of our circle of catty singles ever did? What a catch…A little creepy, though." Tatiana was not far behind, snagging a peek out the window to the street below.

"I don't care about his money! He's not creepy either." Using the clicker to flip the news on, Juli bristled at such an accusation.

"I'm just giving you a hard time. He is a little eerie, but I know you don't care about money. God's sake, you lived with Louis for years and he was some sort of starving artist using paintbrushes as chopsticks to shovel ramen down his throat when you two met. I know you're not after his money, honey." Tatiana's eyes narrowed as she watched the man climb into the back of a black Mercedes. "What's with the bandages?"

"Burn victim," Kidman replied, sipping on her coffee.

Giving up being nosey, Tatiana let the blinds flick back. "Sad…but a mark toward your character that you would see past it. Not many people do in my experience."

Juli sighed.

"Can't stop sleeping with him, though. I've been dying to assist with research for years."

Kidman almost spat her cup of coffee all over herself. "What?"

Sarcasm sang through the Tatiana's voice. "Juli, okay… this is a big opportunity for me that just dropped in my lap after a night of being pissed and shit on by a man who thinks I'm the Virgin Mary."

Kidman rested a palm against her face. "I'm not sleeping with him so you can do research with him."

"Oh come on… There are worse reasons to sleep with someone than helping your best friend gets a new job." Tatiana clinked her mug against Juli's after she took a seat.

"You'll get it on merit or not at all…" Words trailing off, Kidman could feel the onset of a headache incoming. "You're a good nurse."

"I know, Juli. I just have to give you a hard time." Examining her nails, Tatiana sighed. "Marcelo Jimenez already asked me if I was interested in new ventures when I was cleaning feces off the floor this morning. Mr. Victoriano's research is groundbreaking according to Doctor Jimenez…so whoever is on his team is going to be given quite a bit of exposure. I could do with a change of scenery."

"Well, I'm glad that you're going to be doing something you enjoy." Juli offered a weak smile.

They both sat in the quiet after, resting their heads against one another as they watched the news.

"Some guy really peed on you?"

"Three times."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Juli answered the door shortly after noon. Tatiana had already home to her house in the suburbs. She was a bit shocked to see Nicholas standing in her doorway.

"She's home. Bring it up." He addressed two men on the landing.

"Bring up what?" Curiosity littered Juli's voice.

Nicholas gaged her under a calm expression. "A piano, Miss Kidman. Perhaps not the best money can buy but it is a piano all the same…" He side stepped as the men reached the top of the landing.

"Why is it here…? Why are they putting it in my living room?" Juli was beyond puzzled, having stepped aside to allow the men to pass into her apartment.

Nicholas checked his pocket watch before dropping it back into his pocket. "They…are under Mr. Victoriano's orders to deliver one to you. They will set it up, tune it, and then leave. He…insisted." Hands cinched at the small of his back, the butler answered her questions.

Peering at the men, she watched them carefully shift furniture aside. Still puzzled, Juli looked to Nicholas for answers.

"Mr. Victoriano felt terrible that you never learned to play an instrument. He will be here every night you are available, at seven sharp, to teach you. I suggest you keep your cell phone handy." Nicholas sighed inwardly at her raised brow and unbelieving expression. "He doesn't have fantastic social skills. He wanted to help you further with your recovery and this is a good enough reason for him to be nosey."

Juli bit the inside of her cheek, stifling a laugh. Clearing her throat, she turned her gaze to the two gentlemen setting up the ebony instrument. "I see… So much for him brushing me off."

An amused sound escaped the silver haired man's throat. "You're a dangerous woman, Miss Kidman." Nicholas absently commented, stepping inside with the movers. "Never forget that."

She had little idea just what exactly he meant by that.

* * *

 

Ruvik had worked so hard… to get rid of this husk. He worked to regain his face and all else lost in the accident. Like some cruel joke, fate had crossed his path with hers. Her: a woman who couldn't give a damn less about his appearance. Would she still even want him when all was said and done?

He sighed deeply, gaze turning into more of a glare as he looked at his own reflection in the mirror over the sink.

_She'll have to. Nicholas and I have a deal._

Turning away from the mirror, his eyes settled on the test subject half submerged in the tub connected to the STEM device. Three others resided in the other tubs, silent as the grave.

_She must… There is no other way. I'll be whole again… I'll be a better fit for her. She… She is already worthy._

His stare fixed to Marcelo who stood opposite the tub. The aged man was biting on the corner of his thumb nail. He must have felt like a gnat under Ruvik's appraising gaze. He was nothing more than a gnat. He looked like his skin was crawling when he turned away.

"Whenever you're ready, Ruvik. These adjustments had better work."

"Oh…They will." Ruvik sounded confident.

Marcelo didn't seem to share such confidence when he flicked the screen of his tablet on, weathered fingers tapping out the appropriate passcode into the program. "Passcode entered. Passcode accepted. Begin sequence."

Flipping the switch, long and scarred fingers flew over the keys of the keyboard on the control console. "Beginning sequence five-four-eight-two."

The machine awoke from slumber, gears turning. STEM was a mammoth of a device, cables running the ceiling and the floors.

"Sequence five-four-eight-two initiated. Inputting passcode two." Marcelo drawled above the roar of STEM. His eyes adorned in crow's feet shifted to Ruvik. "Passcode accepted."

Impossibly long digits began to turn the dial on the control console. "Initiating merge into STEM," He glanced to the nearest test subject. "REM achieved?"

"Rapid eye movement achieved, inputting final passcode." Swallowing hard, the balding man's fingers tapped out the last code. "Passcode accepted." His fingers tapped to another program, accessing the feed on brainwave scans. "Merging into STEM complete. All souls on deck. Brainwave activity is synchronizing."

Ruvik exhaled in relief under his bandaging. "Finally…" Slowly he approached the machine. "After all this time—"His words were suddenly cut off by a terrified scream. Ruvik's head jerked toward the sound.

The patient, in the tub on the far side, began thrashing. His fingers lifted up to his face, nails digging into his own skin in horror. The dermis ripped in ribbons with each tear. He was reduced to a bloody mess in mere seconds.

"My God. Turn it off!" Marcelo yelled, tablet dropped on a table nearby as he ran for the console.

Ruvik approached the tub, watching the patient in the thrashes of some horrifying dreamlike state. Skin peeling from bone, teeth cracking under the pressure. His eyes lifted as another began to scream on the other side. He swiftly made his way over. Ruvik barely had time to see the reaction of the patient before the back of the man's head exploded. Blood and brain matter drenched Ruvik's shirt and face.

_Dammit…_

"How do I shut it off?!" Jimenez was beside himself in terror. So many switches and buttons. Any one of them could have made matters worse.

Ruvik ignored him, circling the device that behaved more demonic than medical in that moment. The screams… they filled him to the brim. The third patient just bled out. Through ears, nose, eyes… there was no movement. He died on the spot.

_Pity…_

"RUVIK!"

Dead gray stars turned, regarding Marcelo. The look of terror on the old man's face was fitting. Fitting for everything he'd done… Still, it needed to be turned off. Ruvik could smell human flesh burning already. "Press the stop button. The red one on the right." He pointed it out, lazily.

Marcelo punched the button so hard he nearly cracked it.

STEM immediately powered down, lights flickering.

"Shit… Ruvik, I told you to TURN IT OFF!"

Ruvik continued circling, his stare wandering to the dead. More souls claimed by his unappeasable machine.

_All…except for one._

Dead stars fell their stare onto one form huddling in the tub's chill waters.

_Leslie Withers. As always…_

With eyes like that of a spooked horse, Leslie could not tear his gaze from Ruvik. Shivering and shaking, he tried to form words.

_It has to be his bloodline… There can be no mistake. This… This is going to work._

"RUVIK!" Marcelo, dragging him back to from the ascent of realization.

"What?" Annoyance plagued Ruvik's voice as he stepped away from the tub and Leslie.

"Just what in the hell were you doing not hitting the stop button?"

Ruvik stooped down, scooping up one of the cables on the floor. "I was thinking…"

Marcelo could not have looked more furious. "Thinking what exactly?"

The heir of the Victoriano fortune sighed deeply as he stood. "I was thinking that the power supply must have been compromised." He showed a terrible tear in the cable. "Due to a thoughtless nitwit that I am forced to work with still." Ruvik dropped the cable back to the floor. "This one is on you. I've told you a thousand times to pick up your feet and you never have. What's the body count going to be from that alone?"

Jimenez swallowed hard, expression filling with shock. "I… You cannot blame me for this."

Ruvik made an amused sound, exhaling through his nostrils. "But you can blame me for everything that goes wrong with this experiment? Funny…" His stare turned to the albino still in the tub. "None of them were compatible. Get your patient out of the machine, Doctor. Unless you prefer I flip the switch again so you don't have to."

"You're a monster." Jimenez seethed, marching over to the machine to assist Leslie out of the tub.

"Monster…monster…monster…" Leslie took Jimenez's hand, climbing out of the tub.

Ruvik turned his stare, fixing it right on Leslie, almost looking through him.

The younger man cowered, a terrified little sound escaping him as he hid behind Jimenez.

"You might want to tell your patient to watch his mouth."

Marcelo seemed rather pleased with Leslie's reaction. "You know he can't control it. I think he's being rather honest. Like a dog, he can sense evil."

Ruvik glared at them both.

* * *

 

Neither had much to say after the incident. Leslie had been escorted back out past Elk River, to Valerio's villa.

Inwardly, Ruvik knew his theory had been correct. He just wasn't ready to share…

"I think we should move forward with the operation…and move the equipment to the hospital." Marcelo uttered softly, seated on the opposite side of the desk in Ruvik's study. The fireplace was lit in warm golden light from the flames devouring logs.

The orbitoclast lazily spun between Ruvik's long fingers. "I agree."

Jimenez looked almost surprised. "You do realize the consequences of moving forward, correct? The risk for infection and time will no longer be on our side. Your brain will still be somewhat exposed even with the implant… it will have complications."

"The sooner we move forward, the sooner this is over. When I am able to merge into STEM, we will find a candidate more easily. Eventually, we'll be able to have a slew of hosts. That's what they want: blank slates." Letting the orbitoclast drop onto a stack of papers, Ruvik let his air out. "I still want an assistant that won't pester me once STEM is settled into the basement of the hospital."

Favoring his cup of tea, Marcelo nodded. "The woman I told you about… She is willing and able to help."

"I know she is." Ruvik uttered in reply.

Jimenez raised a brow.

Ruvik realized that he had given himself away. His brow knit tightly. "She is a friend of Juli Kidman."

Marcelo frowned, a stern expression crossing his aged features. "You shouldn't be wasting so much time on a woman that doesn't understand you."

Dead gray eyes hardened their stare.

_Just what would you know of my little joy?_

The older man elaborated further. "She won't ever understand, Ruvik. Only Laura did…and she's gone."

"If there is a point to this: find it  _quickly_."

Marcelo sighed.

Ruvik leaned back in his leather chair, eyes closing. "What I do with my time is  _none_  of your business. STEM is right on schedule considering the lack of test subjects you manage to cough up."

Running a hand over his thinning hair, Marcelo sighed heavily. "You know that your condition could easily deteriorate if and when that woman crushes you. Save yourself some headache, Ruvik. Focus on STEM, and then you can do whatever you want."

Anger boiled in Ruvik's blood. "For who's sake exactly, Marcelo? I could dump STEM tomorrow on Mobius to finish and walk off the project without batting an eye. They hardly would care. They have researchers looking to make a name for themselves."

That…was not the right thing to air to the older man. "What? After everything we've done you would just walk off if it didn't suit you? Ruvik, this has been your life's work."

"Half of it has been stolen by you, Marcelo. Publishing papers on my theories, my ideas, my research… What is even the point if all you will do is steal it for yourself, you halfwit?"

Marcelo tried to rationalize his previous behavior. "I… I wanted the world to know your ideas, Ruvik. That is all I wanted. You have no formal training. How would anyone take you seriously if you don't have formal training?"

"About as serious as I'm taking you at this moment, I suppose."

"And what about Laura?"

Ruvik's gaze evened out.

"You won't be able to restore your dear sister without STEM. That was the true goal of your research wasn't it? …To bring her back?"

Ruvik's gaze was nothing short of scorching embers. The hooded man couldn't deny it. STEM was his creation for the sake of returning Laura to his side. "I will bring her back one way or another."

"Well, I hope you keep your priorities straight. For Laura's sake and your own… Mobius would not take kindly to you just dumping your work on them and walking out." Empty cup of tea returned to its saucer on the desk, Marcelo cleared his throat. "That Castellanos woman is still snooping around the hospital, so I cannot afford patients for another few weeks. We have to be very careful, Ruvik."

"I am aware of how to be careful. I'm not the one who just killed three test subjects, Marcelo."

A deep sigh and Jimenez was on his feet. "Good. I would suggest looking for other venues… for now."

"I…have options." Ruvik admitted, fingers running the length of the stationary orbitoclast. "I'll continue working out whether the adjustments would have been successful."

"Good. I'm sorry, Ruben… I just don't want you to throw away everything you are on the brink of achieving."

Ruvik made an amused sound, lips twisting into a smile. "Your concern does not go unnoticed, Marcelo."

Jimenez pressed his luck. "She… already has been through much. As have you. It would be best… if—."

" _Leave."_  Ruvik's gaze bore every ounce of anger tenfold. "Never mention her again or I cut you out of this equation. Have I made myself clear, Marcelo?"

The aged doctor swallowed hard, nodding. "You have."

"Good." Rising to his feet, Ruvik gestured to the door. "Duncan will see you out."

* * *

 

Marcelo should have been upset, but he was quite pleased with himself during the drive back to the city.

_The brat is right where I want him…_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_I hate crowds…_

Someone's shoulder shoved right into his, the owner hardly able to utter an apology before they were gone in the sea of bodies. Rain from above drenched everything below. They were all babbling insects around him, more concerned with the world inside a phone than the world that was slipping between their fingertips outside of it. Ruvik…could not see one person coming or going past him that wasn't absolutely absorbed by the tiny machines.

_Not one of them realizes what they really squander._

Under the protection of bandaging, a face mask, and the hood of a gray jacket; Ruvik was free to move about the city for the first time in his life. He expected to feel…different. Maybe he was just expecting everyone around to be different, to be more than what they were.

_No different than the sheep I put in the slaughterhouse daily…_

He frowned, the feeling of being watched overwhelming. His stare met that of a woman in a second story window. She looked unkempt, twitchy, and almost broken beneath the bags of her aged eyes. Her wool coat was drawn fast against her chest.

He thought of his mother briefly and then not at all.

Ruvik knew that appearance well, one that nearly mirrored his own.

_Schizophrenic… Does she wonder what I wonder? Does she wonder why all of these people who are so normal simply squander this rainy day with frivolous things?_

His curiosity had to be sated for what it was. She closed the blinds.

* * *

In the park, he found more welcoming company with a flock of ducks and a bag of bird seed. Little brown and yellow waterfowl munched happily with their mothers around his feet at the edge of the pond.

_Odd… the most welcoming are a bunch of birds. This society is so backwards it makes me want to purge. Anyone with a decent soul is locked in an asylum while simpletons and charlatans march the streets, drooling their festering absurdity everywhere._

Ruvik wondered just how his little joy handled it. He was quietly thankful he didn't have to more than when he forced it onto himself. He checked his phone for the time and nothing more. He had checked it twice, only five minutes between. A deep sigh escaped Ruvik.

"You and ducks," A familiar voice broke the calm of the afternoon.

Gray stars lifted, viewing the intruder. All they could see were warm mahogany irises.

Juli didn't hesitate to sit down on the bench next to him, wrapped sandwiches and soda cans in her grasp. The sun had come with her. "Well, a perfect spot to get rid of bread crust anyway."

Ruvik's lips twitched into a smirk then into nothing. "You shouldn't feed them bread. It's can cause them to spread diseases to one another." He uttered softly, another handful of seed cast out for the little birds to devour. Laura had taught him that. He had been very little. Some things stuck.

"Oh, I didn't know that." Her gaze drifted to the ducks. "So many little baby ducks this year, it must be difficult trying to keep track of all of them. I guess that's the price they pay for being mother ducks." The brunette commented absently, unwrapping a sandwich. She left the other in the gap between them.

Ruvik side glanced down to it, feeling his stomach turn.

"So, you just called me because you're bored?" Her badge glinted at her hip, the emblem of her authority stitched on her shoulder.

He nodded, tossing more seed out. A little duckling ran out from between his feet, eager to eat more.

"Or…is something else wrong?"

"Why do you live here?" A left field question.

"I… Well, the commute mostly. Ten minutes walking to work beats waking up early or being stuck in traffic. Why do you ask?" She popped a broken piece of sandwich into her mouth. A runner caught her attention, a glance thrown over her shoulder.

"I hate it here." He admitted with a sigh.

Juli paused, confused. "I'm…sorry? I can give you the key to my apartment if you want to go there and snooze until I get home."

"I just…thought this place might be more than a factory for simpletons." He uttered softly.

Juli nodded. "I know what you mean. I see people treat one another in the worst ways every day. I just have to remind myself that I do this for the people who aren't terrible."

Ruvik felt a string of guilt. All he had witnessed was a mild version of what she experienced daily.

A hand gently went to her knee, squeezing it. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You can't control people that I have to deal with." Juli smiled, cracking open her can of soda. She took a swig of it.

"Come live with me."

Kidman spat her soda.

Poor little ducks ran in all directions, feathers ruffled. Many went straight back into the water, wings flapping.

Wiping her chin, Juli almost laughed at the very idea. "I… Don't you think it's a bit soon for something like that?"

"No."

She made a dismissive gesture. "No, of course not. You're asking."

Ruvik's silence awaited her answer.

Juli turned her doe brown eyes to him. "Ruvik, I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Push had come to shove.

"It's too soon… We… I…" Juli couldn't find a good answer for declining. "Can we talk about this when I'm home?" She went for her keys, hunting for the one to her apartment. "I really think that's something that needs to be discussed. I don't like rushing into things." When it was off the ring, she looked up to hand it to him.

He was already gone, swallowed by the behemoth of the crowd along the edge of the park.

* * *

"So what did you do to that poor boy, Juli?" Tatiana asked, a Styrofoam cup already going to her lips. Seven in the evening, she was preparing to go to work just as Juli was preparing to go home.

"I told him 'No' and then he left." Juli replied, utterly annoyed by being left in the park over a disagreement.

"Shame on you. Shame on you for being a meanie." Amusement strung the nurse's voice as she spoke.

"I wasn't being mean. I was panicking that he would rush me to the altar shortly after."

"Hmm, the only woman afraid of the altar. Poor dear Ruben." Back against her car, Tatiana sighed. "So, are you coming to the Halloween party?"

"Yes, I'll be there."

A thought crossed Tatiana's mind. "You should bring him with you."

Juli sighed.

Tatiana smirked.

* * *

Juli waited two hours. Occasionally her white nails drug along the ivory keys of the piano as she walked by. Beautiful notes sang into the air every time. She was pacing. Thoughts roamed her mind. Concern for him.

_Was he in an accident?_

There was nothing on the news and nothing when she called back to department to ask. She punched his number onto her cordless house phone again, fifth time in an hour. She waited and waited; every ring one step closer to being sent to voice mail. No answer.

_He's being a child._

Utter annoyance led her to slam it on the charger.

* * *

Ruvik could hardly stomach food. Despite having a decent chef, he couldn't bring himself to eat. The chicken and dumplings, a childhood favorite, was pushed around the bowl by a steady hand drawing loops with a spoon.

_**Don't eat it, the chef poisoned it.** _

He dumped the spoon, fingers rubbing an ache in his head.

He wouldn't sleep well for days. He should have been taking medication. Ruvik knew he should have been…all of those years. It was too late as far as he was concerned. A new husk, a better chance of medicine working, it was his last hope. A day out of the estate only made the voices stronger.

Louder.

_**She doesn't do as you say because she doesn't love you.** _

_**Nobody could love you.** _

_**Worthless.** _

_**You fool yourself.** _

They bit into his brain with their razor sharp words, like wolves feasting on a carcass. Juli's reaction hadn't helped. She had made it worse, as inadvertent as it had been. Rejection bred anxiety. Anxiety bred stress. Stress…well, it made roaches crawl all over the walls.

_**Worthless.** _

_**Foolish.** _

_**You can't do anything right.** _

_**She only wants your money. Don't understand that?** _

His instinct was her heart setting on his wallet. So many others did. "I should have expected it."

_Ruben, don't be rude._

"Laura?"

_Think, brother…_

The sound of sweet and gentle laughter caused his eyes to lift. Laura sat at the far end of the long table, picking the petals from a sunflower.

_She loves you._

_She loves you not._

_She loves you…_

_**Nobody could love him. Shut up.** _

Laura ignored the voice it seemed.

_Brother… she's a self-made woman. Mother always told you they were the only ones who loved their partners._

He exhaled, digits roughly rubbing against his eyes.

_**She could never see past the fucking mess you are!** _

_Is it so hard to believe she could see past what is physical?_

"Yes."

Laura sighed, her bright blue eyes closing.

_You never change._

He sniggered at that.

_Ruben, I only exist now…in your memories._

"I will restore you."

_I know you will… In the meantime, I think she is a blessing. The voices don't have strength when she is near. Haven't you noticed that?_

"Why? There is no point. When you return she'll be cast aside anyway."

_If…I do._

"You doubt my skills now."

_No… I do not doubt you, dear brother. I doubt the world and Fate._

Laura was behind him, a gentle hand on his shoulder. Roaches crawled the table. He definitely wasn't hungry at that point.

_I just hate seeing you alone…_

He made an amused sound.

_**You are worthless.** _

_Making yourself happy is not dancing on my grave._

"Stop."

Laura fell silent, slipping away from him to walk the length of the table.

_**Worthless.** _

_I liked her. She really does care._

Ruvik slammed an open palm against the table. "Enough, Laura!" The impact left his appendage stinging.

_I'll need a vessel of my own, you know…_

His outburst was stopped in its tracks. A valid point made.

_I'll need one…and I like her._

Sitting back in his chair, Ruvik's gray stare narrowed on the phantom of his sister. "You want her?"

Laura nodded once.

His face shifted from harsh texture to calm. He flicked a roach that wasn't really there away from his food.

_Even if she isn't compatible… I like her. She cares about you._

Ruvik blinked and Laura was gone. So were the roaches. So was the whine of voices. He tried to eat, only to drop the spoon back into the bowl. The thought of the chef poisoning him plagued his mind. With a hand shadowing his eyes, Ruvik's psyche collapsed in on itself.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_Theme: Butterfly—Bassnectar_

* * *

"You'll begin tomorrow, Kid."

"Right…" Juli replied, already lost in the pages of her briefing papers. White pages were flipped through by equally white nails. "Is there anything I should be concerned about?" She looked up briefly.

The figure seated in the tall backed leather chair shook his head. "Just keep a close watch on Castellanos and Oda. We already have men watching the rest of the department, but those two… Castellanos has a personal investment in all of this. His missing wife's investigation could prove to be an Achilles heel if we don't watch our own backs."

Juli flipped through a couple pages.

"If Mister Castellanos threatens too much, you have a playing card or two that should silence him."

Brown eyes lifted from the papers again.

"He was married to Myra Castellanos, who tragically has disappeared after stumbling upon more than what we wanted her to. She didn't get the warning the first time." Long fingers rotated a brandy glass on the desk. "I highly doubt Mister Castellanos wants anyone to know that he's sleeping with his partner…or has been for the past several years. It certainly would paint him…in a very ugly light. Same with Oda, he's married with a daughter, though legally separated."

An amused sound escaped Juli as she shook her head and returned to flipping through the pages of her briefing. "Nothing like a little office affair to keep things interesting."

"I'm serious about this assignment, Kid. Are you sure that you're up to it?"

Juli hated that nickname. "I'll be fine."

"Considering the past few weeks… I question whether you will or not. Not many are the same after a stint in Beacon."

Juli's expression hardened. "I'm watching two secretly gay cops trying to be sneaky. That hardly sounds like a tough assignment."

"It will be if you don't take this seriously. The work they do for the city is hard… It's downright gruesome at times. I hope you have the stomach for it."

"I'll be fine."

Fingers made a gesture of acceptance. "Then let me make one final thing very clear to you: we need them both to stay alive. Myra's disappearance has been chalked up to nothing more than her leaving a drunk for a husband. We'd like to keep it that way. There are plenty who aren't in our pocket watching Castellanos already thanks to his drunken antics. There can be no mistakes and no screw ups. They live or you'll be facing the consequences of a total failure. Understood?"

"Absolutely," Juli replied, closing the folder before dropping it on the desk between them.

"Good." Something else seemed to be on the man's mind.

Kidman seemed to pick up on it immediately. "Is something wrong, sir?"

A heavy sigh was followed by a hand digging into a drawer. "Your…latest conquest has been noted." A folder was dropped on the desk, pictures scattering from between the fold. A familiar scarred face stood out.

_Ruvik._

Juli's blood ran cold.

"We know about what you're doing with him."

She swallowed back fear.

_Why am I so nervous?_

"Jimenez is rather sloppy when it comes to hiding his tracks. We know that he's almost entirely lost a handle on Ruben Victoriano, who is building STEM for us. Ruvik works for Jimenez, who works for us."

Juli nodded, slowly.

"Jimenez knows Ruvik is on the verge of handing STEM over to us incomplete out of frustration. The old man is becoming…an inconvenience. He doesn't inspire results, only makes excuses for a lack thereof. So, while we were pondering sending an agent to handle Ruvik…you seemed to have read our minds and did the work for us. After hearing Jimenez's modified version of the story and hardly buying a word of it, we dug around and found that the relationship between him and Ruvik is strained at best." There was a long pause. "He put you in Ruvik's way on purpose if only to use you as motivation to complete the project. No matter what you did, he'd have an excuse to push Ruvik to complete the job. A reckless move to put one of my agents in such a position. I never authorized you to be put on such an assignment. Nor would I."

Juli sat in silence.

"Keep doing what you're doing. Jimenez is becoming a pest that will have to be dealt with soon. Now we don't have to worry about someone becoming Victoriano's handler."

Juli looked confused.

"Jimenez has gotten it into his head that he can use you, my agent, at his disposal. Over time I want you to push him of your way and use whatever means necessary to ensure Victoriano is on your side of the fence. If you must, paint Jimenez as a monster who threatened and manipulated you. Do not disclose that you are part of Mobius to him; continue your role as the greenhorn detective. Ruvik will act accordingly and do the work for you of getting rid of Jimenez. As long as he's in our pocket, we won't need Marcelo at all. Despite the fact that I am not completely on board with this scenario, that old man is proving to be a liability more than an asset. Without Ruvik, STEM won't be completed. He is foolish to play games with our only means of obtaining what we want."

"What exactly is STEM?" Juli dared to ask a question.

A smirk appeared on the figure's lips. "You may find out very soon if you play your cards right. From now on, please do not take on more work than what is requested of you from me. All orders should come only from me, not someone like Jimenez. You have to be careful who you trust in this line of work. Not everyone has your best interests at heart."

Juli nodded. "Of course, sir."

"You're a smart girl, Kid. I'm sure you'll figure this part of your assignment out easily."

* * *

Juli barely paid attention to her in-briefing at the police department. The captain was an older man, gentle but stern in demeanor. He showed her the desk that she would work at. Juli left her box of supplies on it. No personal items in the box, she was nothing but professional to anyone who knew nothing of her. She was finally in her element.

* * *

Juli took a seat at her desk. Her back straight, eyes forward with a blank expression, she put on her persona like putting on a glove that fit so perfectly. Turning on her laptop, her white nailed fingers began typing one of the reports passed to her by the captain before he had departed.

_If I want to play along, I may as well make myself useful. Though whoever hand jammed this report probably should have written it in crayon. I can barely read it._

"I don't know, Seb. It just wouldn't make much sense that the guy would murder his own wife and rob his own store." An unfamiliar voice approached from behind her.

"It makes perfect sense. The guy has a million dollar policy on the store and another on his wife." Another voice replied, deeper in tone. "That just screams 'I did it'."

Juli glanced sidelong toward the coffee pot, watching two men approach it for another cup of coffee.

The man with glasses looked well groomed; his outfit cut along all angles and hugged him perfectly. He was about her height, finely built with charcoal black hair.

_Almost looks more like an accountant than a cop._

The other man looked slightly disheveled with a shirt that needed ironing, a tie that needed straightened and unruly chocolate colored hair. He was tall, rugged…

_Very attractive for an officer of the law._

Turning back to her task at hand, Juli was caught off guard as both of them approached. She nearly missed being addressed by one of them. Eyes lifting from the screen, she regarded both hovering nearby. "Pardon?"

"I said: You must be our junior detective. I'm Joseph Oda." The man offered a smile behind his glasses and cup of coffee.

Juli presented a smile in return. "Juli Kidman, nice to meet you. I was just trying to help catch up on the paper pushing."

The other man snorted, waltzing to his own desk. "Hear that, Joseph? Someone doesn't mind typing up my reports."

"She should. Your reports look like they were written with a crayon most days." Joseph's eyes narrowed briefly at the smirk thrown his way. "Don't do his work for him. He's a big boy that should handle typing his own paperwork. Believe me; you'll have your own work load soon enough."

The other man set his cup of coffee on his desk before taking a seat. "I don't type. I peck, thank you very much. It takes me three hours to do a page."

Joseph let out his air, shaking his head. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you too, Kidman. That homeless looking guy over there is our lead detective, Sebastian Castellanos. Maybe someday he'll grow some manners and exchange pleasantries like normal people do."

Fox grin behind his cup of coffee; Sebastian couldn't help but be amused. "Little cheeky today, aren't we, Joseph?"

"A little upset that you won't even hear my theory, for this latest case, out."

Just like that she was forgotten as the two resumed their squabbling.

_Like an old married couple._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_Theme: Danse Macabre, Op. 40_

* * *

 

"Experiment number four, subject numbers four through thirteen: brain wave activity diminished but synchronization achieved. Subjects should begin experiencing a shared consciousness. Previous trials indicated rapid deterioration of consciousness. Their minds became an exquisite mass: an amalgam of mental carrion. I'll have to connect myself if I want to experience their terror before it diminishes." A long finger clicked the stop button on the recording device. Ruvik's stare shifted toward the bodies submerged in their baths as he sat back in his chair. All dead and nothing more than piles of meat to be discarded. He hated working like this. He hated having them sedated. It always proved to be fruitless when he could not see which parts of the brain fired as they thrashed in torment. Jimenez's idea of being humane was Ruvik's idea of _waste_.

_A colossal waste. I had high hopes for all of them._

The chill of the hospital's basement lingered over his skin, causing horripilation to manifest. He hugged his coat to his chest, dead gray stars shifting upward as the figure of Marcelo made himself known. Ruvik would not be the first to speak. The orbitoclast he so favored rotated slowly between his fingers once it was in his grasp.

"They will be here soon to clean up." Marcelo sounded as exhausted as he appeared to be.

Ruvik nodded, leaning forward to retrieve the audio tape from the recording device. "They should be thrilled. We made progress today."

_Not as much progress as I make on my own but enough that the good doctor can claim he had something to do with it. Worthless worm is still trying to justify why he belongs on this project._

The aged man nodded in turn, running a hand over his thinning hair. The clipboard in his grasp was set down on the desk. "Yes, they should be…" His eyes met Ruvik's, a strange look in each orb. Concern.

The hooded man sighed, leaning back far enough to make the chair creak. "What is it, Marcelo?"

"I…just wanted to ensure you were doing well, Ruben."

"Ruvik." The reply was clipped in ice.

"Ruvik… I… You've been working nonstop for a while now. You should rest for the evening. You know what a lack of sleep will do to your mind. Your condition is no excuse to exhaust yourself further. STEM is right on schedule, as you promised me."

Utter annoyance at such concern littered Ruvik's expression. What did Jimenez really care if he ran himself straight into an early grave? Not at all. The farce of a mentor concerned about his pupil was long since over and done as far as Ruvik was concerned. The orbitoclast spun and then dug into the wood of the desk, biting into the grain of it. Whatever else annoyed him about Marcelo's words was dismissed. "No time. I'm busy with a social gathering tonight. My father hosted a get-together on the last day of October for dignitaries from New York, Italy, and Spain every year in Krimson City. I intend to continue that tradition in his name." The disc pocketed in his jacket, Ruvik climbed to his feet.

"Tomorrow, then, I think we should shut down for a day. It would give me a chance to prepare my report to… _them_."

"To Mobius? You sound like they're some sort of boogey men when you constant refer to those people as 'them', Marcelo." Ruvik wretched the orbitoclast from the desk, strolling past the older man and out of the office crammed in the corner of the chamber where STEM now resided. His bare feet touched the tiled floor as he approached the machine. The grime and pools of water went ignored as he walked toward it; a pilgrim reaching his own personal altar of Mecca.

"They're not to be trifled with, Ruvik." Marcelo called to him.

"Neither am I." The words purred in a ripple of amusement. Ruvik's hand came to rest on one of the metal supporting beams reaching for the heavens. He thought of the burned out barn and its remaining beams reaching for the same, the same as a hand torched in flames—his own hand. Long and scarred fingers stroked over the steel as affectionately as one would a concubine. "Soon, everyone will know who _I_  am…"

Marcelo swallowed hard, stepping down into the chamber. "Ruvik, you should take heed. They will want to patent this machine for themselves."

"They can have it after I am  _done_  with it, Marcelo." His stare didn't bother to lift when the florescent lights flickered.

"You'll have to be done with it…eventually."

Dead stars burned around black pits as he turned his stare over his shoulder. "None of you can finish it without me. So long as everyone keeps up their end of the bargain…I will gladly hand it over."

"Yes… Speaking of which…"

Ruvik turned to face the older man.

"I did some checking for you after we last spoke. I found something you might be interested in." Marcelo reached into his white jacket, withdrawing a single folded note. He offered it to the younger man.

"What is this?" Ruvik snatched the paper upon approach. Turned away, he paced three steps before stopping in his tracks.

"I found an account your father had kept money flowing into the city's children's hospital for unknown reasons…and stumbled upon her in the burn ward. In a coma, but stable…"

Shoulders shrouded in white fabric sagged, long fingers shaking as they held the piece of paper.

_This… this is real. This… My beautiful Laura… You didn't die in the fire._

"Your hopes…were not in vain that there would be a way to restore her."

_She'll live again._

Ruvik nodded, swallowing down the desire to crumble all over the floor. "Good." He hid his face under the hood, heading for the door swiftly. There was no way that he could allow the old man to see him weak. That could  _never_  happen. "I need to get back to the estate."

"Of course…" Marcelo's smirk could not be sunk as the doors swung shut.

_Perfect…_

* * *

 

The sound of a deadbolt unlocking was followed by the whitewashed door swinging open. Juli appeared from behind the door. "Afternoon, Nicholas." She'd made a habit of looking through the peep hole since the incident. A new habit formed too late. The bruising on her face had faded, though invisible under makeup.

Nicholas Withers smiled, lips tugged outward wide. "Afternoon, Miss Kidman. I hate to be a pest, I'm sure you have much work to do for the KCPD… I stopped by hoping to give you this on behalf of Mister Victoriano." An envelope was produced from his jacket, stenciled in golden patterns. "An invitation to the Samhain Ball tonight. It's at the Renaissance Hotel, I'm sure you know where that is."

Long fingers reached and then popped the golden seal once she was standing in the hallway. "I… I don't think I can. I have made plans already." She briefly read the invitation, locating the time. "Yeah, I really can't. I promised some friends that I'd be at their costume party."

"Oh, well Mister Victoriano will be disappointed you could not attend." Nicholas plucked a fiber from his jacket, flicking it away.

"I seem to disappoint him quite a bit."

"…I… I cannot speak for that, Miss Kidman." Awkward, Nicholas looked away down the hall.

"Right, you're just the messenger." Juli scratched at an unseen itch on her forearm. "Why do you work for him?" Left field question, but she was curious.

"Work for Mister Victoriano? Well, he pays well. The benefits are amazing and the work is easy enough…" Nicholas paused, thinking. "He and I have a deal. My younger brother's bills for staying at Beacon are footed by him."

"You have a younger brother?" Juli sounded interested. Her eyes shifted as another apartment owner reached the top of the landing.

"Yes, Leslie. He and I…have been through a lot. We were young when the rest of our family was killed…then our adoptive parents dumped us in Krimson City on their way to California." Nicholas cleared his throat as a hand swept through his silvery hair. Nervous and awkward, he didn't seem to enjoy speaking of his own past, and for good reason.

"Wow… I'm… I'm so sorry." Sympathy filled the brunette woman's expression as her arms folded over her chest. "I can't imagine your pain."

"It's quite alright, Miss Kidman. My pain has been long since buried. Anyway, Leslie's bills are hardly cheap. Mister Victoriano and I have a deal. He pays me well and pays for Leslie's stay in exchange for my services to him…so I feel that I am in debt to the man for being so generous." His blue eyes turned down briefly and then rose with newfound strength in their wells. "But, that's neither here nor there. I shouldn't take up more of your time."

Juli nipped at her bottom lip, worrying it between her teeth in thought. "Before you go, do you have a pen?"

* * *

 

"Who was that?" Tatiana raised a brow as Juli stepped back inside.

"He sent his butler." Juli looked down to her feet, not wanting to meet that knowing gaze. There was no question about who 'he' was.

"Maybe you should call him." Attention back on the crossword puzzle she had been working on, Tatiana tapped her pencil against the newspaper in thought. "He might start groveling if you're the first to make contact."

"I'm not calling him. He can call me if he wants to apologize for being so rude."

Tatiana smirked, coffee mug lifted to her lips. "And the battle of wills continues."

* * *

 

"Sir, could you please look over the seating arrangements one last time before I submit it to the planner? She has been calling all afternoon requesting it."

Ruvik looked up from his journal in the dim light of his study, ink pen becoming stationary in his grasp. An irritated sigh escaped his throat as he gestured for the chart. "Thank you, Duncan."

"My pleasure, sir," The balding man lifted three pieces of fabric for inspection. "Sir, which color do you want for the tables?"

A dismissive gesture was made. "Just pick one, Duncan. Select something my father would have." Ruvik's long fingers slid over the chart as he gazed over the names inked onto the paper. "Is Patrick Higgins attending?"

"Your lawyer, sir? Yes, he'll be in attendance."

Ruvik went for the ink pen. Scratching out Agatha Winters' name, his tight script listed Patrick Higgins over it. "I'll take having him at my table instead of listening to Miss Winters ramble about being single without a suitor to share her meaningless existence with."

Duncan snorted, folding the fabric and placing it back into the box. "She fancies you, sir. That much cannot be mistaken."

Ruvik looked up. "Do you think I should marry her, Duncan?"

The aged and balding man's forehead wrinkled as his brows rose. He was marginally surprised at being asked, though it wasn't entirely out of Ruvik's character. Ever since Ernesto had left their world, Duncan had been something of an advisor to the heir. "I don't think so, sir. After going through her tax records, it seems she has nearly spent her father's fortune. Poor Wesley, God rest his soul."

"Right…" Ruvik made a few other corrections, placing Miss Winters as far away from him as humanly possible. He rolled the paper up and offered it back to Duncan. "That should be correct now."

"I'll get it to her quickly…" Duncan turned suddenly as the door opened. "Ever hear of knocking, Nicholas?"

A hairless brow lifted at that.

Nicholas rested a hand to the back of his neck. "Apologies, Mister Victoriano. I did as you asked."

Ruvik cleared his throat. "Leave us, Duncan."

Duncan nodded, eyes leering at Nicholas upon departure.

The heir of the Victoriano family gestured to the seat across from his desk. "Tell me everything."

Nicholas nodded, taking a seat. "Miss Kidman looks healthier these days. I gave her your invitation, sir."

Ruvik's lips turned up at their edges.

"She declined."

Those same edges dropped flat.

Nicholas dug into his jacket, retrieving the invitation. "She was very upset that she would be missing your gathering, sir. She sends her apologies. Miss Kidman had a previous engagement that she could not miss." Sliding the invitation across the desk, he cleared his throat. "She wrote something for you on the invitation and requested it be given to you."

Ruvik's gray stare shifted from the invitation to Nicholas' face. "What was she wearing?"

Withers sat back in his seat, offering a gentle shrug. "White shirt, black denim jeans…" He wasn't entirely comfortable relaying such information. It felt archaic, an ancient question from men who had to wait months to see a woman. Ruvik could just dial this woman and ask her what she was wearing.

It bothered Nicholas a little bit when he was making his way down the hall to help the rest of the staff prepare for that evening.

_He's…so out of place in this period of time. Like a relic that doesn't care to catch up with the time in some ways but is beyond this time in others. A walking paradox._

* * *

 

After Nicholas left was the only time Ruvik dared open the invitation. It smelled of her perfume, possibly inadvertently; rain and sunflowers. A jagged 'X' crossed out the elegantly golden and verbose blathering offering an evening rubbing elbows with the elite. Instead, her loopy handwriting made an invitation below to him.

_**I want to see you tonight.** _

_**1312 Cedar Street** _

_**7:00PM** _

_**-J** _

_She used my own invitation to invite me to something else. I shouldn't be so amused, but her gall is rather charming. She wanted this on her terms. Hmm…_

His lips pursed. He dropped the invitation onto the desk, eyes glued to her handwriting. It felt like a slap in the face and teeth rouging his lower lip all at the same time. Her invitation held more worth than anything that the night would hold for him elsewhere. He had an obligation though...

_To who? That prick who locked me up in the basement?_

Ruvik's stare lifted to the only picture framed on his desk. His mother's face stared at him in solemn calm. She had no answers for her son. She was dead and gone.

* * *

 

_I remember why I loathed the idea of this…Half of these costumes are as trashy as the people wearing them._

Ruvik stared out at the sea of bodies coming and going in the massive ballroom. From the stairs leading to the second floor, he nursed a glass of champagne behind a mask that covered half of his face. Phantom of the Opera; his scars and bandaging were thought of nothing more than costume pieces by people coming and going. Nicholas stood next to him, silent and separating the heir of Victoriano from anyone who possibly would bump into him on the stairs. Duncan was over his shoulder, uttering names and information about those who stood crowded in clusters.

"…Demetri Devonte is right next to her. He's originally from Finland but carved his name into the automotive industry. Beside him is Javier Abano from Spain, you would remember him from you father's birthday celebrations."

_Duncan is a walking encyclopedia for rich and idiotic individuals… How would I have survived this horde without him?_

A distant memory of Laura clouded his mind. She often informed him of dignitaries that their father was entertaining. The rules of an old game where anyone could come out the winner, though he was far from a player of said game back then. Now he was a rook in a sea of pawns in more ways than just these circles.

"Phillip Araya is beside Javier. He's your stiffest competition for sunflower production in Europe…"

"I've heard enough." Throwing back the rest of the drink, Ruvik offered the empty lute to Nicholas. "I think I'll begin to start greeting these swine before the urge to become inebriated and fall into a dumpster behind the hotel overwhelms me." His brows lifted as the lights dimmed. Soft sounds of music began to play above the low roar of the crowd.

"Very good, sir. Set your standards low and never find yourself disappointed." Duncan drawled in dry humor, ascending the stairs behind the pair.

Nicholas cast his gaze to Ruvik. "Do you need me on the floor, sir?"

"Not this time."

* * *

 

He tried making conversation with the gentlemen from Europe. It all made him nauseated to hear them so full of themselves they spilled over on everyone in the immediate area.

_Why do I even bother with this?_

Every smile was as false as the person who gave it—freeloaders and charlatans all.

_Why am I even here?_

Every face was more makeup or Botox injections than face. Masks, they were all wearing masks.

_Every last one of them as hideous and treacherous as the last one._

Laura appeared in the crowd, meeting her brother's stare.

_I shouldn't be here…_

Ruvik became stationary, certain his heart had stopped as Laura sidestepped out of his field of view. Gray eyes peered toward the entryway, his looking beyond the crowd landed on someone. His stare had fallen on a brunette woman in a black dress.

She was looking right at him.

_She came?_

" _Of course she did, Ruben."_

He gave Laura a sour look, finding her at his side. His stare returned to the woman in black.

Juli's ruby red lips spread as she smiled shyly and stepped toward the crowd separating them.

_What am I supposed to say?_

" _Anything she wants to hear, dear brother."_

He wasn't entirely sure if he liked what Laura was insisting, quietly excusing himself to navigate the sea of bodies.

Juli apologized to a woman she bumped into, slipping between the backs of two men conversing in opposite circles. "Pardon me."

_What do I tell her?_

" _If she is to be my vessel, you will have to play into her likings."_

Laura's insisting was shoved right out of his mind. Ruvik was halfway through the hedge maze of people coming and going before he came to a stop, little idea of what to do now. A happy couple dressed in costumes strolled past his back flank in the adjacent direction, searching for more spirits to fill their glasses.

Juli stepped out of the thick wall of moving bodies, heels clicking on the hard marble floor. Upon approach, white nails of her right hand trailed down the front of Ruvik's jacket. "Nice costume. Are you a business mummy?"

"Cute." Morbid as the joke was, it drew a chuckle from his throat. "And what are you?"

Juli gestured to the headband on her head. "A cat."

Ruvik's eyes lingered on the silken ribbon tied off around her throat. "You're a Rupert?"

"You remembered that?" Her mouth was all smiles between ruby red as she closed the space between them.

"I did." A hand coming to rest at the nape of her neck, Ruvik drew her in close.

They swayed in their embrace, following the tune of the music.

"Are we done fighting?" She was the first to ask.

"If by that you mean the mutual silent treatment is over, I'd say a truce is in order." He uttered softly, nose lost in her deep brown strands. "Though the offer I made will continue to stand."

"I know…" Juli whispered, burying her nose against the collar of his shirt. "I love you."

" _Tell her the same, brother."_

Laura, directly behind Juli, quietly petted at the brunette woman's hair. Her doe blue eyes met his with a smile.

" _You don't have to mean it."_

Ruvik swallowed hard, silent as the grave. Though the phantom pleaded with him to give the girl exactly what she wanted, he would not.

_I do have some class left in these bones, Laura._

For the first time in a while, he just wanted the apparition to go away. "Let's go somewhere else." Quiet in tone, Ruvik led her away from the phantom.

And Laura glowered at him for it.

* * *

 

"Hey, are you okay?" Juli pressed her hand against his chest once they stood on the balcony overlooking a portion of the city.

"I…" Ruvik was at a loss for words. He could never expect her to understand just what went on in his head. He could never expect her to understand him or anything he had done for his own sake. In that moment, he wasn't even willing to entertain explaining anything to her. Guilt riddled him and he shook his head. "A little too much to drink, I needed some air." He seated himself on the marble bench, casting a glance over the railing before looking back to her. "I thought you had a previous engagement."

Juli pulled her cat-eared headband off. "Yeah… I did until Tatiana found out that I was invited to this. She says 'Hi' and hopes that kicking me out of her party will sway you to hire her sooner."

Ruvik smirked, an amused sound escaping him. "I'll think about it." As she sat down next to him, a palm of his settled on her nearest knee. His thumb rotated over a small scar peeking along the hem of her dress.

Juli studied his features. "You don't look like you're having much fun."

Ruvik's brows rose briefly. "I never do. These functions are more for the memory of my father than for me. This is usually where I hide for most of the evening while everyone in there rubs elbows."

"Oh, sharing your secret hiding spot with me? That's so sweet of you."

He smirked in turn. "I hope you're not terribly bored out here."

Kidman shook her head. "No, I don't think I will be. I'm just glad you're not asking me to go dance. I have two left feet."

A curious look encompassed Ruvik's features. "You can't dance?" Her reply of 'No' resulted in him climbing to his feet. "That can be fixed." A hand extended toward her and he helped pull Juli to her feet. "Dancing is all about trust. You have to trust and allow someone to guide you through the paces. You have to trust yourself to remember the steps."

Juli sighed. "This is going to be another piano lesson, except I'm going to step on your toes."

"I personally enjoyed the one piano lesson we've had." A gentle thumb brushed against her cheek. Ruvik's lips twitched into a faint smile when the flesh blushed in red. He lifted a palm and offered it to her. Once hers was within his grasp, his free hand went to the small of her back and he began to lead.

Almost immediately Juli bumped into his toes. "Dammit." Only a second later it happened again. "I can't do this." Frustration covered her expression and filled the tone of her voice.

Ruvik hardly seemed alarmed by it. "You're probably better at leading than you are at following. That's fairly common among strong women. Not many men like giving the lead to a woman. Some silly rubbish about women being subservient to men has floated around for so long it's the norm. Try it. It might be the issue you're having." He stopped, allowing her to take charge of their dance.

She hesitated, and then led him. Her cheeks stung in red.

"See? Flawless."

Juli snorted, switching her hand to the small of his back. "What can I say, I'm a dominant girl." Sarcasm leaked from her lips as she led him around in a lazy loop.

He was close enough to see her pupils dial with the light and dim of the balcony as they moved "Oh, I know you are." Lips pressing briefly to the corner of Juli's mouth, he grinned. "I want to see just how far that dominance goes, but I fear you're too reserved to let it out." He purred, all sorts of suggestions rippling through his voice.

Nervous, Juli cleared her throat. After calm enveloped what was a jaw dropping statement on his part, she replied softly. "Maybe I will let you see it."

Ruvik's lips spread; a cruel fox grin. "We'll talk later about that, my joy."

A catcaller's whistle caused both to halt and look.

"Nicholas, how lewd of you," Duncan drawled. He absently sipped on a honey colored beverage in a scotch glass. His green eyes settled on the couple. "Mister Victoriano, if you were looking to have every woman inside whispering about how  _bizarre_  it is to have a woman leading a man: you certainly could do it right now."

Ruvik smoothed his hand down the back of the woman's dress. "As if I haven't given them enough to cluck like a coop of hens about."

Nicholas nodded. "Miss Winters certainly is in there telling everyone that Krimson City's finest is a harlot."

Duncan glanced from Nicholas up to Kidman. "Do you have one of those clamp boots we could put on her car?"

Juli shook her head. "I don't, sorry." She wilted under such scrutiny.

Ruvik watched.

"You shouldn't take these women seriously, Miss Kidman. They're all fools and come a dime a dozen." Nicholas offered.

"They don't know you, Miss Kidman. They never could measure up." Duncan uttered in his usual bored tone.

Juli was left to lick a fresh wound.

Ruvik desperately tried to hide the murder in his eyes.

* * *

 

_Where is that worthless slut?_

He'd left the three on the balcony when the desire to lose his mind on the guilty party had become too much. First that prick, Louis. Now some worthless tramp. She was  _his_ , and he swore next one that harmed her was going to pay the price. The Piper had come calling for payment at long last.

People cheerfully greeted Ruvik as he walked back in, pace swift and hard against the marble floor.

"Wonderful party, Mister Victoriano."

He ignored it.

"You outdid yourself, Ruben. Your father would be proud of the man you've become."

He ignored every last  _word_  of it.

_Did she run and hide already?_

Laura was on his heels.

" _Don't do anything too rash…"_

He found Agatha huddled next to her regular assortment of associates. Every last one of them another incarnation of her.

"Ruben." Miss Winters' pearly white smile beamed behind the lip of her glass. "I had been hoping you would bless me with your presence this evening." Haughty as ever.

Ruvik buried his anger to his stomach, letting it burn in the darkest point of his being. Hands resting at the small of his back, his lips twitched into a cruel grin as he approached. "I had hoped we could have a conversation, Agatha."

Looks were exchanged amid the four women, followed by a few giggles.

Laura rolled her blue eyes.  _"Foolish floosy has no idea what is going to happen to her."_

"We could go up to the balcony and talk. I feel that would be more appropriate, Ruben." Sliding away from her cloister of companions, Agatha offered her hand to be taken.

His smile faded and he never took that hand into his own. "No, I think we should just talk right here." Without warning his voice raised loud. "Because apparently you believe that it is fitting to call the woman I am courting a  _whore!_ "

Even the music stopped.

Agatha's mouth dropped.

Laura laughed.

Turning on the heel of his well-tailored shoes, Ruvik paced about the woman. He was nothing more than a wolf ready to rip her belly open. "You dare come into my home… Sit at my table, eat my food, drink my wine and then show me this sort of  _fucking disrespect_ at a festivity that I throw for you and every other person standing here?!"

"She insulted me, Ruben."

"How?" Utter confusion and volumes of anger filled his face as Ruvik looked right at her in disbelief. "When she told you that she never found God? Doesn't that ring a bell to pray for her to find him? The last time I read that book that was the general idea. How can you insult someone who keeps the peace while you sleep warm in your bed every night?"

Agatha stammered, and then went for broke. "I thought you and I would become something until  _she_  showed up."

Ruvik wept the blood right out of her tarnished hopes. "Miss Winters, there will never be something between you and I. That has absolutely nothing to do with the woman you freely insult. I have no intentions of having anything to do with you other than try to help you from going broke. I continue to invite you to my functions hoping that you'll meet a husband that isn't quite as useless as you are."

Every jaw dropped.

Agatha was reduced to tears.

" _Oh, now she feels bad."_

Ruvik got close, so close he could smell her god awful perfume. "The next time you dare speak her name, I will  _pull_  the last of my money out of your father's business. Then I won't have to worry about you ever showing up to anything again. You'll be homeless."

Someone in the far back of the crowd laughed.

He turned on a dime, trudging toward the exit.

"Your father would be ashamed!" Agatha's last attempt at a jab.

Ruvik thought to reply, but decided against another spat with the woman. Laura lingered by the door.

" _Father, yes. Mother would have been proud, though."_

As Duncan appeared in the hall leading out of the building, Laura evaporated into the nothing that she came from.

"Sir, the car is ready. I'll handle things from here." There was a certain twinkle in Duncan's eye when he spoke; amusement. "Could hear you from outside."

Ruvik regarded the older man with a grimaced expression.

"I'll do what I can to ease tensions."

_What would I do without you, Duncan?_


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

* * *

_I cannot stand tactless imbeciles…_

Wrenching off the mask, Ruvik exhaled sharply.

_That idiotic woman will not come out of this smelling like a rose…_

"Where am I taking you, sir?" Richard, his driver, asked over a shoulder. His profile was barely visible outside of his outline in the street light cast through the car's windows.

Gray eyes cast a glance to the woman silently sitting next to him.

Her eyes were rimmed in red.

"Home," Ruvik peered down at the mask and then tossed it onto the floor.

"I'm sorry… I don't know why that got to me," Juli uttered softly, still unable to meet his gaze.

"Don't apologize. She had no right to speak ill of you. You've done nothing wrong." A slim hand wandered along the inside of her knee.

Juli took a deep breath, finally looking over to him. "I think I need my medication adjusted."

"To what? Tolerating people too foolish to realize they're terrible? That could possibly leave you braindead."

Her lips curled into a smile as she rested her head against his shoulder. "That is true."

The world was soon fleeting by at sixty miles an hour.

* * *

"Do you feel guilty for playing into his desires?"

"Not really. You need me close to him. I've done what I've had to do. I've said what I've had to say."

"He's certainly buying it. Hook, line, and sinker… I'm impressed. You make it look easy."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

Juli closed her eyes, the memory of her words eating at her.

_It's easy because it's real._

She didn't want to think about how compromised she really was. Lying to her own boss about the feelings she portrayed…

_I wonder if he saw right through me._

It didn't appear that way.

Her thoughts evaporated when Ruvik leaned into her and fused his mouth with her own.

* * *

"About what you said earlier…"

The door swung open as Ruvik turned the knob and allowed her to pass inside before shutting it behind him. The house was deserted. His staff would be busy for the rest of the evening.

Somewhere in the distance of the quiet house, Juli swore she heard a piano playing. "I…have been thinking about it."

"I know." Ruvik uttered softly, unbuttoning his jacket as he strode over the carpeted pathway.

Juli walked beside him on the marble, heels clicking over polished rock. She looked almost lost. "Considering all that has happened in the time we've known one another: why would think I'm a dominant woman?"

He almost laughed at the question. "Your job selection airs as much. Underneath all of your layers I believe you are more than what you appear to be. I think you'd enjoy it in a more…relaxing setting."

"I'm not into S&M, if that's what you're implying. Pleather and riding crops isn't really my thing."

He snorted. "I'm not talking about any of that at all. Dominance isn't about violence, and neither are you. Dominance is more than mere control. You're not some stereotype that is plastered all over the pages of a terrible novel—a novel about a broken person needing to be in control and beating it into another person to obtain it. Dominant may have been a poor word choice; spirited sounds more appropriate. Though it's hard to tell with so much repression…"

"If it's not about control, what is it about?" She sounded skeptical of his logic.

He turned at the foot of the stairs, peering at her. Amusement strung all along his mouth as she dipped her stare away from him. "Bottom line—it's about trust. Something you don't have and have been without for a very long time. You were made submissive through abuse and neglect, not by choice. That's not how these things are supposed to work. Yet, our society breeds abusive people who think they can take what they want and not be seen as dishonorable. They see themselves as an alpha when they're really just domineering."

"I was never forced to be submissive."

Ruvik's gaze narrowed. "Louis beat you bloody to control you. That's what I am referring to. It's immoral." His hand went to the railing as he ascended the stairs. "It's hardly appropriate behavior for a dominant figure in a relationship."

"You seem to know a lot about this."

"I've had a few… _friends_  in the past." Ruvik uttered softly, passing a portrait of his great-grandfather.

Juli's eyes widened as she followed. The idea of Ruvik…having lovers…

_You didn't really think you were his first, did you?_

She could feel her cheeks sting and felt stupid for it.

"I spend all day controlling my entire world. Sometimes it feels almost like a rare gift that someone would command me for a change. Someone that I want to order me around. I don't tolerate domineering, but someone like you…" He paused, looking over to her. "Someone of decent character and who doesn't demand respect…"

"Wait… Are you… What are you saying?"

Ruvik smirked slyly. "I already told you: I want to see that dominating side of you that you hide so well beneath your wilted appearance."

Juli swallowed hard, averting her gaze when she felt twin gray stars focusing on her with their evaluating stare.

"Would you be interested?"

She didn't know what to say.

* * *

The lights were dimmed.

"We'll start slow."

She shed her dress like a snake ridding itself of an old skin.

He strips naked, a fearless Adonis fresh from Hades.

"Simple."

Her nylons remained high along her thighs.

"We'll go at your speed."

She wore as much black beneath the dress as on the dress at the edge of his bed. Four posts, much like the one she'd occupied during her previous stay. The wood was dark, the runners and all a deep black fabric. The colors of the two rooms would have run well together.

He shred a sheet with scissors gleaming in silver. He showed her how to tie the knots, how to make it bite into his skin but not burn it. "Slow. We'll only do hands for now."

Juli nodded, more naked and afraid than if she'd been completely disrobed. Her hands shook while she worked, giving plenty of slack.

He kissed along her hip as she tied the second one off, comforting and encouraging. "You're doing fine."

"Is this good enough?" She asked, smoothing her fingers down the coarse scarred skin of his arm. Her heart was half in it, so uncertain of herself.

Ruvik tested the restraint, pulling back and finding it satisfactory. "Yes." He felt a shiver roll down his spine as she crawled onto him. He drank every inch of her up from stockings to garter belt to the black lace cupping the mounds of each breast. Then he saw her eyes: nervous and lost.

"What do I do now?"

He would have laughed if he knew she wouldn't have just crawled under the blanket and hid from him for all eternity. He chose the road less traveled and encouraged her further. "Whatever you want with me, my joy. If you want something of me, don't take 'No' for an answer. You're the one in control. You have my trust. If you desire something of me and I'm not doing it correctly, find a way to make me do it correctly. You can use as few or as many words as you want. Fewer are better sometimes."

Juli's hands wandered down his chest, rippling over smooth and scarred flesh. "Okay."

"Only what you're comfortable with."

She nipped at her bottom lip, hazy gaze wandering over him.

The dim outline of well-defined muscle beneath pale skin.

A nervous hitch in his breath under her touch.

Gray eyes focused entirely on her.

Him—completely submitted to her in every way.

Panties slid aside, she made her desires known as she slid over his shoulders.

He dared to turn his head away in rejection, a cruel grin on his face.

For that, he was shoved down on her. Tongue flat, he lavished her in long and slow strokes.

Her mouth set him on fire when she took her time returning the favor.

He was a writhing snake under her merciless mouth licking and suckling all over after.

He whimpered when her hips ground against his, restraints taunt.

He wanted more.

He wanted it  _all_.

When she took him inside, he dared to let every wanton sound free from his throat.

She pushed him back when he rose from the sheets, nails firm against his throat. "Don't."

He grinned at her gall, attempting again only to find himself back against the sheets with full force.

She grinned at his defiance, reaching out to undo a knot.

He undid the other.

Harmonia and Cadmus, they coiled about one another in their wickedness and the ecstasy of the exhausting end.

* * *

A folder was slid into her hands.

"His psych evaluation."

She skimmed through it.

_Manic Episodes._

_Depression._

_Schizophrenia._

"While what you've done is impressive for such a short amount of time, I need assurance that you have him right where we want him. With him wrapped around your finger, we won't be facing any further inconveniences."

"Understood."

"Understand this, Kid. He could turn on you at any given time for reasons that are not logical. He is not medicated or seeking treatment of any sort. He believes that he can control himself just fine. This is a high risk situation, but the payoff for us will be beyond compare. Are you sure you can handle this?"

Her gaze evened out. "I can."

* * *

Sleep did not come easy, and Juli woke to find that she was alone. The bedposts still were bridled in shredded sheets. Somewhere in the distance of the home she could hear the piano playing. She looked to her dress on the floor, and then caught a glimpse of something hanging off a hook on the wall.

Linen and white.

Her gentle tug on the fabric and a click ticked into the air. Just enough pressure, she'd activated a hidden mechanism. The wall next to the hook suddenly revealed a hidden passageway, door swung wide open.

Cool air caused Juli's mostly naked body to shiver. She slid the fabric on. It hung from her like a wraith's cloak, fabric dividing and leaving only a slim line of her body in view beneath it. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The sleeves were just a touch too long for her arms, linen shielding nearly to her knuckles. The hood smelled of his cologne; of his body. She'd seen him in one made similar in black, but this one…

_It feels like he's worn it a lot more._

There was some fraying along the hem; it was a loved piece of wardrobe and recently cleaned.

She entered the passageway, bricks cold beneath her feet. The dank and dark space was hardly welcoming to her, a chill ripping down her spine in fear of becoming lost in such a place. The door swung shut behind her. Juli rushed back, trying to open it again. "No, no… Please open!" The hidden door refused to budge.

_Shit._

* * *

She followed the music in the dimly lit passage, hoping that a tap on the wall of the room where the piano was playing would only result in some moderate scolding and her freedom. She hoped that the passage even had a tunnel near that room. The music seemed to fill the dim passageway, loud but not piercing.

_Clair De Lune…It seems to be his favorite song._

In the dark, she smiled fondly as she walked. It hadn't been hard to find the room, a few backtracks and she found the source. She sought out a spot to knock.

"The hospital has not received its usual donation for November."

Juli recognized that voice even warbled through the wall. She froze.

_What is Dr. Jimenez doing here? It has to be five in the morning…_

"And why would they? Has the hospital done anything worthy of donation?" Ruvik replied, endlessly amused by the doctor's outrage. In truth, he was exhausted by Marcelo's lack of vision and his constant blocking of progress.

"The Victoriano family has always been a generous contributor!" Marcelo was in rare form for early in the morning. He had driven the hour long commute to the estate just to confront Ruvik about the lack of a check.

Silence and the pleasant notes of the old song were the only reply to such a statement.

"Ruben… What really happened to your parents?"

Both hands slammed against the piano's keys, a distraught and angry sound filling the air from the hollow body of the instrument.

Juli jumped in the dark, surprised by such an outburst.

"Is there something you wish to discuss, doctor?" Ruvik's voice was low and dangerous. His last nerve worked over with a hammer.

"There is actually. I came to inform you that the hospital will no longer will be able to provide you with assistance…materials. Your research will very quickly disintegrate."

"How  _dare_  you come into my home and threaten me." Gray eyes lifted to Marcelo.

Juli shifted away from the wall.

"What do you want, Jimenez? More money so you can interrupt my work and cause even more setbacks? I'm going to resume working here, in my home. There are several issues that need worked out before STEM will be ready for use. With a 99% mortality rate as of now, it's a death machine."

"You're doing this so that Mobius will crawl up my ass for reasons why STEM isn't functioning after they dumped thousands of dollars into it."

"That's merely a perk of needing to do more trials, Marcelo. I do need to figure out why so many have died. It is hardly going to do us any good to have a machine that doesn't work. You being a moving target for Mobius' scorn is just a cherry on top of the cake."

"You little bastard…"

* * *

Juli dared to inch to the wall again, her ear to it, only to hear the slamming of the doors. All was silent after. With a heavy sigh, she stepped back.

_God, just what is STEM? They're at one another's throats._

"What are you doing down here?"

Gasping, Juli swung around the face the source of the voice.

Ruvik and he masked his emotions well.

"I…I just…" There was no way to cover over the ugly parts of this.

Hands jamming into the pockets of his slacks, Ruvik slowly approached her. "First Winters drives me up the wall, then Marcelo…" He paused in thought, studying her. "I hope that you are still more trustworthy than either of them."

"I am… I was just curious…" She looked at her toes, hugging the jacket to her chest.

Ruvik stopped, a scarred hand resting on her chin. He drew her up to meet his stare. "I have to be able to trust you…Juli."

She swallowed hard.

"You're all I have left." His stare looked beyond the hooded woman to a figure standing behind her.

Laura, angry in tears.

" _You still have me, Ruben."_

Ruvik's stare clicked back to Juli's. "You're it. There's nobody else alive in this world that I care for."

Gaze downcast, Juli couldn't hide how his words moved her. She changed the subject. "He was blackmailing you…"

"He was."

She fidgeted with the hem of a sleeve. "I didn't know he was like that."

Ruvik ran his thumb over her chin. "Not everyone has your heart, my joy. Not everyone has the best intentions." He couldn't cage his filthy heart. "Not everyone…loves you…the way that I do." Every word felt like nails driven into his tongue. So painful to admit that he had pricked his finger on an arrow too.

Mahogany eyes widened.

The hood was drawn back, brunette strands framing features hardened by years of scorn.

She tried to soften them. For him.

"You're far too beautiful to be wearing this thing." His mouth hovered over hers.

"It smells like you." She admitted.

"I suppose that's its only saving grace for being worn by you." His lips melded against hers, soft and warm against the chill in the dark.

In the dark; the only place what they held for one another could truly exist.

* * *

She crossed her legs at the ankle. Juli's eyes rested on the form of her boss at the window.

He was agitated, a cigarette between his fingers.

Silence enveloped the space between. The sound of the phone ringing outside the office was met with the muffled tones of a secretary answering it.

He broke the silence. "Are you sure, Kid?"

"I'm positive, sir." Juli took a sip from the glass of water in her grasp.

A heavy sigh met her ears.

"Then we have no choice but to press our luck with your hand in this game. I've heard enough about those two spatting." He turned, facing her.

On queue the door swung open. Three men stepped inside of the office.

Juli could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise.

"You're going to win this battle of wills for us."

She suddenly felt tired. Eyelids heavy, she thought she heard the glass in her grasp ping with a shatter on the floor. Or did she?

_I… Did he drug me?_

* * *

" _Put her in. He'll have no choice but to fix it or face the consequence of failure."_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Theme: The Road—Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

* * *

" _No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."_

_-Mary Wollstonecraft_

* * *

_She hasn't answered in three hours…_

Cell phone between scarred fingers, he tapped out another message.

Then another.

His demanding became curt, fury rippling between words of games not being appreciated. He was growing paranoid, confused…

Concerned.

She had to go into the city for a few hours. Then she was all his for the rest of the weekend…

_Where is she?_

Ruvik dropped the phone on his desk, head between his hands.

_Stop before you sound like a complete jackass._

Long fingers rubbed at sleepless eyes.

_Did I upset her?_

He couldn't imagine why she would be. The voices were not helping… Their nagging tone was nothing more than white noise in his head.

Duncan poked his head into the study. "Sir, Beacon Hospital is calling."

* * *

The doors flew back harshly on their hinges as Ruvik shoved them open. The bang of both colliding into stone touched all four walls of STEM's new lair. Stepping down onto the floor saturated with pools of water and covered in cables, he narrowed his stare.

STEM purred beneath the lights and cables running the ceiling.

_Someone flipped the switch…_

Marcelo looked up from his papers at the desk crammed along the wall. He looked frazzled, exhausted, and very pale.

Ruvik threw a glare toward him.

_Of course…Who else would?_

A usual candidate for testing was half submerged in the first tank. The hospital gown was enough proof of that. The man was already in a deep dreamlike state. There was only one other...

The hooded man thought his pulse stopped when he saw. "No…" On the far side of STEM's hulking form, he wanted to scream like a child.

So he did.

Juli, hooked up to the device much like the other: probes that jetted out like talons cradling her skull. Half submerged in the tub, her clothing was drenched. She looked peaceful and pale in her slumber. The brain wave scanner next to her dipped high and low.

Hand curled into a fist, Ruvik bit down on a whitened knuckle. Anything to quell a heart strung in barbed wire from scorching to cinders or exploding in flame.

_Why…? Why drag her into this?_

Ruvik swallowed hard _._

_She doesn't stand a chance. She shouldn't be in there. Not in that cold THING._

A hand that went to yank her out stopped short as Marcelo spoke.

"If you pull her body out, she's gone. You know that, Ruben."

Ruvik glared over his shoulder, fury bathing his features. "You did this…" He hissed. A menacing pose ripped through his shoulders as he moved.

Marcelo looked guilty. He was guilty. "Ruvik, I did not want to do this… It was Mobius. They demanded that she be put in the machine. They're tired of your games so they gave you some…motivation."

" **LIES! YOU LIE!"**  Unhinged and furious, Ruvik advanced toward the older man. A scarred finger was put right in Marcelo's face. "You've been nothing but jealous of my happiness since the beginning!"

"Jealous? That's absurd. You're having a one sided relationship with a woman who you don't even really know. You've made up most of it in your own head. Don't you see that?"

A cart of surgical tools went down with a crash between them. Ruvik advanced again, glass crunching under his feet. " _I know her!_ I know her better than you ever will. I know it was you behind this. This is all a tragedy orchestrated by you, you  _filthy worm!_  You kept expressing to me to finish my work and forget about her! Now you've stuck her in that death trap! For what? So I can finish it?  _ **I CAN'T FINISH IT NOW AND KEEP HER ALIVE!**_ "

Jimenez retreated. "Ruvik, pull yourself together!" He ducked in time to avoid taking a book to the head. Marcelo knew anything that wasn't nailed down was about to be thrown, broken, or destroyed.

Himself included.

Amid the mania, Ruvik circled the older man. Anything in his path was toppled, thrown or kicked to the floor. "If she dies, so do  _ **you**_. I will - _ **RIP-**_  you apart myself."

"Then let's make sure that doesn't happen." Marcelo's voice rose over the sound of more things being thrown at the walls.

Ruvik glared at the old man. There was not enough anger in his bones to match the hate in his eyes. Stare turning back to the machine, Ruvik focused on the brain wave monitor.

Laura was standing next to it, tapping the face of it with a pale fingernail. She regarded Ruvik, worried in appearance.

" _She's in there…waiting for you, brother. Forget the old fool. Go save her. If she dies…I lose my vessel."_

_I can't… I can't save her._

Laura wouldn't hear of it.

" _You can."_

He slumped. Between defeated shoulders, he wanted nothing more than to weep. Another shelf was pushed over in what little anger he had left. Sorrow was quick to overwhelm him in the aftermath of a manic episode.

"It won't be long before she succumbs to the same horrific fate as all of the others… Unless we do something to stop that." Jimenez approached the younger man. His stare turned upward as the florescent lights flickered. "What do you need from me?"

Laura approached as well.

" _The clock is ticking, brother. Do something, Ruben."_

Even in his despair, Ruvik's mind worked overtime. He had no choice now… He had to give up one of his aces. Dead gray stars shifted to the woman in the tank.

A sleeping beauty, and unlike the old legends, this one was far from a being tucked away in a tower.

_Instead she's in a mental hospital basement…in nothing more than a burn unit tank. My design of anguish; now nothing more than a tool to make me scream. This… No. This is not how she should go. Dying like a dog…_

* * *

**"I need…Leslie."**

* * *

Ruvik was still making careful adjustments when Marcelo returned with the boy, long fingers tapping out commands into the console. His stare turned to a sketch taped to one of the white marker boards. Further calculations were entered. Laura was not far away, plucking the petals from a sunflower head.

Leslie babbled.

Marcelo comforted.

Laura plucked.

Ruvik tapped out more commands.

"Cold… cold…"

"Calm yourself, Leslie."

" _It will work, Ruben."_

Ruvik sighed.

 _Valespira_ —it was an experimental drug at best, if it could even be called a drug. Extracts from various plants… It originally was intended for a cheap alternative to anti-psychotics. Ruvik had thought it might help the madness from overwhelming his own mind in STEM. Unfortunately, he already had schizophrenia.

Juli, his joy…she had shown every symptom of depression. It was an illness…but nothing compared to the man in the other tank. A quick glance at his chart was enough to leave Ruvik nauseated.

_Walters, Damien… I would have rejected him for this little experiment if given a choice. Criminally insane—more likely to put a knife in someone's throat than ever recover._

His only hope was that the mind of his joy would not merge with that of the other...

No testing had been done on anyone other than himself…and it hadn't worked for him.

No testing had been attempted on Valespira's effects on the sane. Hell, no sane had ever been hooked up to STEM before. He had no idea how she would see things… if she'd even be the same when she came out.

If she'd even come out alive.

"We need to hurry."

Ruvik regarded the older man through a sidelong stare. Violet liquid filled the syringe.

_If this works, Marcelo will turn this over to Mobius the first opportunity he has… He'll claim it's his creation. He'll go skipping straight to them with it as soon as I dive in._

He found a beautiful vein along her wrist and decided it was the least of his worries at the moment.

* * *

"You have thirty minutes at most, though while in there I highly doubt you'll need even that amount of time." Jimenez uttered.

Ruvik stepped into the water pooling in the unoccupied tank and sat down. The chill was almost more than he could bear. "I'll only need five…" He uttered between grit teeth.

Marcelo began locking the brain probes all along Ruvik's cranium. "I wish you would have just let them perform the surgery already."

No reply from Ruvik.

Jimenez administered the sedative, red gleaming in the syringe before he pushed the plunger.

Ruvik stared up at the florescent lighting, counting backwards from one hundred.

"Good luck, Ruben."

_I hate florescent lights…_

* * *

Juli had never been lost in the city before. Somehow it was…different. There was nobody on the streets. The clicking sound of her heeled boots against pavement ceased as she stopped.

"There's just…nobody." She muttered to herself, hardly able to wrap her mind around an empty city. Her stare drew her toward a boutique and she approached its glassy front. Several dolls were on display, draped in red and gold dresses. One stood out to her. The pads of her fingers rested on the glass as she peered in. There was no mistaking the familiarity.

_It's…the doll I wanted for Christmas when I was six._

When she stepped back, she realized it was snowing. Big, white and fluffy flakes spiraled down from the darkened clouds above. Immediately she hugged her arms about her chest. "Shit. It's snowing?" The drop in temperature left her breath foggy. A t-shirt hardly was warm enough. Something in the corner of her eye, Juli turned her stare.

A young girl was tentatively looking into the window, mitten covered hands pressed against the glass. Her appearance was rippling in ethereal translucency. The little girl was familiar.  _Very_  familiar.

_She's...me._

Juli noticed several people were walking past, all dressed from head to toe for winter. All were similar to the girl; nearly ghostly in appearance. Her gaze turned back to her younger self, smiling fondly. "I remember this… The doll was the first ever to be released with a toy cat as part of the set." Mahogany irises lifted, viewing a figure fast approaching.

The crowd divided, a woman in her late forties stepping forward. Stern in expression, without a single hair out of place, she grabbed the girl's arm. "Your wicked desire for earthy things has to stop, Juliana!"

Juli gawked. "My mother."

"Momma, I just wanted to look at it." The little one protested, fighting against the pull, reaching out toward the glass. She could almost reach it and through to the treasures within. Almost.

The first strike, to the back of the head with an open palm, and Juli twitched.

The second strike, across the girl's face, and she could feel her eyes well in red.

"God has cursed me with a child bound for Hell!" The woman screamed right in the child's face.

The third strike, the crowd stopped and gaped.

The fourth, Kidman couldn't bite back her anguish. Something tore itself deep within and left her gushing in rage. She lunged toward the woman. "Stop…  _STOP!_  You can't do that!"

The entire scene seemed to evaporate around her, every person vanishing in a wraithlike wisp.

Juli could not wrap her head around what had just occurred.

_What the fuck is happening?_

Her stare settled on the window, the doll now so decayed the dress was in tatters and its porcelain face cracked right down the middle.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_Finding her in the patient's mindscape will be like finding hay in a needle stack…_

Ruvik cursed himself for being so careless. He cursed himself for foolishly trusting that the idiots weren't trying to use the machine in his absence. STEM was normally attached to him… He was the architect, and he was normally the core and in total control when not observing. Total control of suffering and the decay of minds, he wielded his authority like an axe. The possibility of attaching another mind as the core was obviously a mistake on his part. A mistake that required correcting. A terrible disadvantage came with not being at the core…without being able to control…everything.

_That will change when I come out of this. Two can play the game of control, Marcelo._

What needed to happen in the future was put aside, focus set on the present moment as bare feet settled on the concrete of the road.

The city was an empty playing field.

_Four of us in here…_

Dead gray stars lifted their stare to an intersection two streets down—the outline of someone shuffling along came into view against the street lamp flickering into life.

_Leslie._

Sighing inwardly, he slowly began to walk toward the shuffling youth.

_The landscape could change at the drop of a hat._

An ad for a designer pair of jeans silently tried to persuade attention from a store window.

_Mobius wanted more than just STEM working… They wanted an opportunity to see just what I would do in here._

A movie poster was ignored, something about a pig.

_They're always watching._

Scarred feet stopped, dusted in dirt and the black of tar from a repair in the road. Ruvik gauged his appearance in a window under the gray light of the sky. A curiosity plagued his mind. It had plagued him for years.

_Do they see me as a monster? Or do they see me as she does?_

Slowly approaching, he came to a stop three feet from the glass. He closed his sleepless eyes.

_Brilliant man or a monster?_

Lids lifted from pools of gray on black, revealing a very different appearance.

Hooded coat gone.

A black suit in its place.

Scars gone.

Only pale skin.

Hair almost white. So blonde.

Eyes once more sharp in blue.

Ruvik gazed down to his hands. A bump on his middle digit from years of writing, his father's ring…

_The brilliant man. The man I should have been._

The sound of a garbage can being overturned and a squeal of fear brought him back to reality. Ruvik let out a sigh.

Leslie was not far off.

He viewed himself in the glass again. The monster and its hood had returned. It sent anger rippling through his veins. The world had robbed him…and soon it would pay. The anger he felt was of some use… it did motivate him.

_I will regain my face; recover what was taken from me._

Ruvik dipped a hand into his pocket, fingers greeted by the cold steel of an orbitoclast.

_She_ _**will** _ _love me for it._

His stare wandered within the shop guarded by glass. His brow lifted at the sight of a tattered doll, face cracked right down the middle.

The sound of another trash can toppling over sent an annoyed sound wrenching from his lips. Ruvik advanced around the corner, following after a very lost Leslie.

* * *

Juli had no idea how she ended up back at her apartment. The streets seem to have no rhyme or reason to them. Everything ran together now…

_Am I going crazy?_

Her bed welcomed her to lie down. Sleep just didn't seem to want to find her, however. The walls showed signs of decay. Hadn't she just painted that spring before?

_What's that smell?_

The light suddenly flicked on.

Juli sat straight up, rubbing at her eyes. "Christ, what is going on?" Hands falling away, her mouth fell open.

A man she did not know stood in the doorway.

"What the fuck…?"

Decayed flesh and withered features, the man hulking in the doorway panted heavily. A thin line of drool trailed across his lips and poured down the side of his mouth. His torso was a mess of wounds while the contents of his belly hung open in shreds. Two eyes held no irises, only a piercing light. The sound leaving his throat upon each breath, wet and raspy, put the hairs on Juli's neck straight up.

The word 'zombie' came thrashing across her mind immediately.

_It's just a bad dream._

With a terrifying screech, he lunged at her like a maniac.

* * *

Ruvik couldn't be absolutely certain, but he was starting to become a firm believer that Leslie Withers' existence could drive him to crawling into a bottle for the rest of his life. Every sound, every movement—it all disturbed Ruvik in the worst of ways. It wasn't entirely the boy's fault. He was so…unkempt with a mouth full of rotten teeth. An almost phantomlike version of his brother, Leslie was far from measuring up to Nicholas. What were proud and strong features on Nicholas, simply were sunken and hollow on Leslie. Willowy, he never would have been Ruvik's first choice for his purposes.

His constant babbling made Ruvik's teeth grind.

Even the way his bare feet shuffled were nails on a chalkboard.

The only interesting thing Ruvik ever found: the moments of coherency Leslie had when they were this close. The youth's mind seemed to perfectly synchronize with his own at times. Even when Ruvik wasn't at the core, this rang true. It spelled good news for what lay ahead…

"Will Leslie go…home soon?"

"Soon," Ruvik hardly seemed interested in making conversation with the boy as they walked.

"Can Nicholas bring donuts…and stay a while?"

Every moment in the boy's presence seemed to only irritate Ruvik more. "Maybe."

Leslie sneezed, wiping his nose with the back of a sleeve.

Ruvik's lips curled in disgust.

Leslie sniffed sharply. "Nicholas says… you're going to give me a better home…away from the hospital."

"Soon," Ruvik uttered softly, gray eyes dancing their stare from street signs to shop signs.

_Where are we?_

"He said he…will go away for a while. But, he said he will come back again." Meek in tone, Leslie's stare lifted to a single bubble that appeared before him.

Ruvik sighed inwardly.

"That you… will give us your house…"

Irritation rippled through Ruvik's voice. "Yes,  _boy_. You won't live in the hospital. Your brother and I cut a deal that you're not to utter a word about to anyone. Do you understand?"

Leslie nodded several times, shuffling along. "Yes… yes…" He smiled up to the taller man, adoration in his wells of blue.

Ruvik stopped.

Leslie stopped, nothing but smiles and bubbles.

The hooded man's expression mirrored smelling something terrible at such a look on the boy's face.

_If you only understood the price your brother is willing to pay in order to keep you out of Beacon, you wouldn't be grinning like an idiot at me._

Leslie's smile dropped"Why…are we here?"

Irritation rattled through Ruvik's voice. "We're looking for someone."

"The lady."

"Yes, the lady." Ruvik was mistaken in assuming it had been a question. A single finger pointed by Leslie to across the courtyard alerted him of that.

Juli: bloody and running as though her existence depended on it. She saw them. Her eyes were like those of a spooked mare.

"RUN!"

The building behind her exploded into nothing more than rubble, a malignant appendage jetting out its reach toward the heavens.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

" _Run faster!"_

Juli dared to look over her shoulder. Several cars were sent skidding in all directions by the behemoth of a  _thing_  chasing after her. She dodged left onto the sidewalk as one flipped over her and landed on its front end before collapsing cab down. "Shit!"

Ruvik snatched the back of Leslie's jacket, dragging him toward an alleyway on the other side of the street.

Leslie was little more than babbling and frightened eyes. Forgotten newspaper crackled under his tread as he tried to maintain balance. "Bad… Bad."

"Yes, very bad." Ruvik uttered, glancing skyward as the buildings they stood between shook. Letting go of the boy, his stare shot back toward the light cast in the mouth of the alleyway. He silently urged Juli to pick up the pace.

_Hurry, before we're all killed._

Juli slid, shoulder taking the blunt of the blow as she collided with the northern building's side doused in brick. Staggering, she limped and then  _ran_  as a grotesque maw roared not even a foot behind her.

Powerful jaws snapped at the bare air previously occupied by the woman.

" _Jesus Christ!"_  She yelped, limping the last two feet and dropped to her knees as soon as she was reunited with the others.  _"What is that thing?!"_

Ruvik stepped past her, peering at the creature. He didn't look frightened. Not even angry anymore. He  _marveled_  at the monster that had them cornered.

_It has to be two stories tall…_

It almost looked arachnid in nature, yet reminisced of skinless feline traits with long and powerful appendages adorned in lengthy claws. A powerful whipping tail hung high above, skeletal with rot.

Ruvik was rendered speechless by such an absurdly macabre looking entity.

_Is that…Walters?_

The beast opened its long jaws, fangs drooling in black as it roared. Desperate to eat, it drew long jagged marks along both walls of the alleyway.

Leslie yelped as it began to push itself in, the walls on either side dropping debris and dust.

"It's still coming after us!" Juli stood, backing away with Leslie.

"Indeed." Ruvik uttered, turning around and walking back toward the pair. He checked his pocket one last time for the orbitoclast. His stare settled on Juli.

She looked frightened and nauseated.

He looked to the boy.

Leslie's expression was mute with fearful eyes.

The creature drug itself another foot. Then another: snapping and drooling and roaring.

"Oh God, what are we going to do?" Juli cast a glance as Leslie hid behind her. "There's no way out!"

The chaos and fear dripping all around him, Ruvik seemed completely at ease. Even with his back turned to the abomination.

Juli, wide eyed and fearful, watched him with disbelief.

_Is he smiling?!_

He was, eyes closing. The normally expressionless tilt of Ruvik's mouth bore a twitch of a frayed smile.

"Ruvik?"

The creature's girth cracked the walls, sending a chunk of concrete plummeting down and cracking in half on its dorsal.

"Ruvik!"

He wanted to revel in this terror…

… _just a little more. I can feel their fear drooling off of them._

"RUVIK!"

Dead gray stars flew open and he stepped forward.

Jaws snapped at the air, missing the man by inches. The creature howled in anger, having missed its meal.

Ruvik advanced after the other two. Hands forward, he grabbed onto their shoulders. "We're leaving."

* * *

 

Juli felt Ruvik's hand on her shoulder, then the ground give out from under her. Suddenly she was falling.

Falling, falling…like every paralyzing nightmare she ever had of falling.

The ground was far away and getting closer.

Fear crept through her mind of the impact.

Of being nothing more than a red smear on the ground below.

Feet from the impact, she woke up.

* * *

 

Sitting straight up, Juli gasped for breath. A hand on her chest, she tried in vain to calm a heart beating like a helpless bird in its cage.

_What the hell happened?_

Looking around, she found herself in a cramped room. The walls were of wood, a few pictures of flowers dotting the walls. The clock on the wall ticked ominously.

_My…my old room?_

It was as she remembered it from years ago, the last time she'd been home.

Crawling out of the bed, Juli inspected the room. Old toys, worn from love, were cradled in the toy chest. Her closet was full of hand-me-down clothing. It still smelled musty.

_Some things never change. How did I even get here?_

She took the stairs at the far end of the hall and descended to the first floor.

The boy stood at the bottom, shuffling and babbling to himself.

Juli's eyes glanced to the emblem of Beacon on his chest. "Who are you?" She asked.

He stopped, looking up at her through wells of icy blue. He looked familiar somehow.

_Where have I seen that face before?_

A creak caught her ears, and Juli jerked her stare toward the hall. A room at the far end poured light into the dank air of the hallway. A long shadow was cast through the light, another creak. Then another. A familiar sound of a rocking chair.

_Mother…_

Juli took one step in the direction of the light.

"Don't go that way."

She paused, looking back to the boy. His hand was on her wrist. "Why not?"

There was no answer; he simply led her toward the front door.

Juli looked back once, then allowed him to guide her with ease.

* * *

 

Outside was a familiar scene. The village of Elk River was as unwelcoming and gloomy as ever.

Clothing hung to dry flapped helplessly in the night air.

It was all exactly as she remembered.

_I never thought I'd see this dump again._

So many questions went entirely unanswered. How did she arrive here? More importantly…

_Where is Ruvik?_

Juli's heels settled in the dirt of the courtyard. Mahogany eyes lifted to the statue situated in the square. A glorious angel, carved in marble, with her face between her palms. An entity to the village that displayed a weeping for the world. To Juli, it had been a deity weeping for the lunacy in the village. Juli could not recall a time which she could relate to such a feeling more than that moment.

"Angel looks sad." Leslie commented, joining the woman.

Gaze hardening, her arms folded across her chest. "Yeah…Angel looks sad alright."

* * *

 

Waking with a violent jerk, Ruvik gasped for breath. There was fading light and there were sunflowers. Blinking light out of his eyes, he crawled to his feet.

Sunflowers danced in the wind as far as the eye could see.

He shielded his stare with a marred palm, gazing at the unmistakable visage of a barn. A familiar barn.

Ruvik's heart skipped a beat.

Pushing the doors open, he found what he remembered occupying within. Farm tools, bales of hay, straw scouring the floors in a blanket.

In the blink of an eye, fire erupted along every wall. It devoured what it pleased. Wooden beams collapsed as he tread further within. Haunting whispers rose above the crackle of flame as Ruvik stood in the fading sunlight dousing from the hayloft's window. He felt the heat. He could smell the smoke. He felt everything and then nothing at all.

" _I want my brother back!"_

Ruvik turned, looking for the source of the voice. "Laura?"

" _I want my sister back!"_

He turned again, seeking the source.

_My own voice…_

" _I'll do the same to you!"_

Ruvik pivoted, finding himself alone with only the fire.

" _I'll show you pain!"_

Eyes narrowing, he looked up toward the barn's ceiling.

" _You did this to us!"_

Somewhere in the distance he could hear screaming. Her screaming.

The flames disintegrated the barn to cinder and ash all around him, leaving only the burned out remnants of what once was.

It reminded him of himself—a burned out wreckage of a person.

It reminded him of what was lost.

It reminded him of what he had yet to regain.

"Ruben?"

He turned, the hem of his coat flicking at the back of his calves.

There she was.

Ruvik swallowed down every ounce of anguish that clawed its way through him. "Laura?" His voice cracked in that single name.

Laura smiled in the only way she knew how: wide and lovely. Long tresses of black were swept behind her neck as she moved toward him. "It's me," she uttered softly.

Heart burning with what it had left; Ruvik was motionless as she approached. He thought her a phantom, until her fingers went to his cheeks. His breath was unsteady.

"Ruben… I missed you."

He remained motionless until her mouth fused to his.

* * *

 

_This makes no sense… Where the hell are we?_

Juli followed behind Leslie at a slow gait. He seemed to know where they needed to go.

She  _hoped_ …anyway.

Leslie shuffled.

Juli's heels clicked over stone.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Nowhere…Nowhere."

"Great." Mahogany orbs narrowed their stare as they reached the top of the ridge. "Wait… I know where we are."

The sprawling body of Krimson City lay below.

"I need a weapon in case we run into that  _thing_  again." A heeled boot sent glass flying as Juli kicked in the display window of the only shop that seemed the best chance of holding what she was looking for.

Leslie loitered not too far away, twitching from the sound. He looked the very image of nervous, shuffling.

A crunch of glass and Juli had returned. Axe in tow, she thought it as good of a chance as any for them to survive another encounter. Her phone was dead. The phone in the shop had been dead and the city seemed completely deserted. Her sidearm was under a mountain of rubble now…

There was no other option it seemed. Not unless they wanted to brave the journey to the police department or the far side of the city where she knew of two gun shops. No, it was too far.

_Doesn't mean I'm not going to try to be as sneaky as possible._

"Where now?" She asked, palms coiling around the axe's wooden handle.

Leslie said nothing, approaching a sign post across the street.

Juli's brows rose. "The train station?" She couldn't argue with the logic of getting the boy to safety. Then she could come back and look for Ruvik.

_I hope he's alright._

* * *

 

"I wish we could stay like this…"

"So do I…" Ruvik uttered in reply, long fingers coiling through tresses of black. He couldn't believe his own eyes.

How was she here?

Was she just a phantom of STEM?

She had to be…but she  _felt_  so real.

"What are you feeling right now, Ruben?" Nails gently rolled over the skin of his throat.

He didn't know what he felt.

Empty.

Guilty.

Lost…

Something more than all three.

"Ruben?"

His eyes stung. "I'm happy." He uttered softly.

"Good." Laura sounded satisfied by that answer. "We should go home." Her fingers coiled at his wrist. "We can live happily there forever now."

Ruvik began to follow, only to stop. "Wait… There was something I needed to do." He paused, trying to focus. Everything felt hazy.

"There's nothing you need to do…"

"There was… I know there was something I was supposed to do. I can't go with you." Ruvik replied. His free hand lifted to drag his hood back.

"I only want to bring you joy, Ruben…"

_Joy…_

_Juli…_

"You're supposed to agree and come home with me." Laura squeezed at his wrist, pulling. Something about her appearance failed. The veil lifted.

Eyes widening, Ruvik wretched his hand free of her grasp.

She looked confused. "Ruben?"

Dead gray stars narrowed. "You're not Laura." He called the bluff.

"Of course I am…" Laura replied.

Long fingers pulled the hood back up. "Laura would never insist I agree with her…"

The scowl that smeared the woman's face told all was not as it seemed. "I could have made you happy."

Ruvik stepped past the woman. "No, you would have led me straight to the lunatic that is at the core of this nightmare and let him kill me." He replied in a cool tone. "Bravo on the attempt. Don't feel too bad. Many have tried."

"You're going running back to her, aren't you?" Laura followed.

"Not that it is any of your business…"

"You mock the memory of me with what you do."

Something about that stung. He stopped.

Satisfied with having his attention, Laura examined her nails. "I will kill her and you will watch before this nightmare is over, Ruben."

Ruvik turned, peering sidelong. "Threatening her now?"

"It's a promise, Ruben." She sounded proud. What was that in her voice? A dark and graveled tone lingered under the higher notes of her voice.

Chilled fingers coiled around what hid in a linen lined pocket.

"None of you are leaving. She will die first and you will watch."

The air between them was charged in a whirlwind of emotion that settled into nothing as the breeze died down.

Ruvik ceased in motion. "I can't let you do that, Laura." He whispered, pain driving nails through his tongue.

It was rather easy for him to  _move_.

To simply imagine himself behind her and there he was.

Long locks of black gave way to a pale neck.

His spirit died when she screamed.

He hated himself when red drenched his hands.

An arch of red blackened by a setting sun, nothing more than finger-paint when it splattered to the straw strewn ground.

He couldn't see her eyes.

He didn't want to either. Seeing them spooked, frightened and betrayed.

He didn't have the stomach for that, especially from  _her_. One betrayal should have been all he was forced to endure in one life. She had forced his hand.

Ruvik had made his choice.

* * *

 

He would hate himself for months after.

He wanted to be anywhere but there in that moment.

Anywhere…

_Just anywhere but here._

"I don't want to see what I've done." He whispered harshly, breath trembling on exhale. With a tightly knit brow, he let the orbitoclast drop from his grasp.

"Ruvik?"

Dead gray stars were revealed from under tired lids. "Juli?"

Kidman set the axe against the pillar nearest to the train car. Concern stitched her features. "Are you alright? You look terrible." She was at his side in a heartbeat, fingers coiling with his as she guided him to sit inside.

"I…I'm fine." He said in exhale, turning his stare away. Everything in him was numb and his face stung.

It was only when she left to fetch her weapon and Leslie did he allow himself to crumble.

The train seemed to move with its own volition.

Juli was too preoccupied to take note of it, her hands under Ruvik's hood and resting upon the nape of his neck.

Ruvik was too torn apart to notice, defeated between his shoulders.

Leslie seemed content, quietly babbling to himself. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed toward the back of the car. "Bad."

Juli looked up. "What's bad?"

The back of the car suddenly was torn wide open, metal ripped from the structure like paper. The creature was back.

The three were rocked off balance, sent toppling out of seats and onto the floor.

It went for Ruvik, long claws snaring the bottom of a linen jacket.

Eyes wide, Ruvik went to his pocket to find it bare. "Shit." He hissed, grabbing onto a pole jetting out of the floor.

Leslie shrieked, darting out of the car and into the next.

Jaws snapping the creature shoved itself into the cab.

The coat was ditched as soon as Ruvik could find his footing.

Juli opened the car door, pushing Victoriano inside before closing it behind her.

The creature was not far behind, smashing through and sending glass flying everywhere.

The pair was knocked off balance, crashing onto the glass riddled flooring.

Rubbing at her head, Juli wasn't sure if her skull could take another knock like that. She turned her stare back.

The creature, whatever the  _fuck_  it was, locked its jaws around Ruvik's ghostly pale ankle and pulled back.

She didn't think anymore, she just moved. It all felt like a movie, sitting in the back of her own head watching what happened.

The axe snatched, rushing toward the animal instead of away.

The infinity iris staring up at her as she slammed the weapon into it with…

Every.

Ounce.

She.

Had.

The animal roared in fury, tossing its head from side to side.

Ruvik was free, fingers open and then closing into a fist as he glared defiantly at the creature.

The animal's head exploded. Just like that, it fell dead.

Gore smearing her face, Juli had no answer for what had just happened.

She didn't need any.

It was dead.

Her gaze met Ruvik's.

"Are you okay?" His usual graveled tone was a welcomed sound.

"Yeah… I'm fine." A surreal and unbelieving note rocked her voice.

"I'm glad. We're going home, Juli."

Light overwhelmed the inside of the train car and then she saw nothing.

* * *

 

Ruvik shoved the cranial prongs up, locking them into their holding position. His stare lifted up, blinking away florescent lighting as STEM shut down with a whine.

"We did it!" Marcelo beamed as he approached, clapping his hands. "Finally, after all of these months of trial and error, we did it! Not just one of you came back, three out of four!"

There was hardly anything worth celebrating in Ruvik's mind. Out of the tub with a wet slap, he was already freeing Juli from the talons of STEM.

_The only reason we came back is because of Leslie…Did the old fraud not figure that much out?_

"Well, are you even going to acknowledge that STEM actually does function?" Marcelo sounded surprised by his co-worker's silence.

Ruvik sighed inwardly. "There is still more work to be done…"

"Well, yes…" Marcelo locked the prongs previously occupying Leslie's head in their cradle. "But we've made so much progress today." He assisted the young man out of the tub. "Mobius will be pleased and finally back off."

"How long do you think that will last? A week? Maybe two? How long until they put her in another death trap as a carrot to cow me along?"

"Ruvik…They didn't want to." Marcelo pleaded.

"Just leave… Take your  _patient_  with you." A dangerous tone strung through Ruvik's graveled voice.

"Ruvik…"

" _Leave. Now._ "

* * *

 

She was still out of it, trying to blink away the blurriness. She would be for several hours still. Valespira wasn't known to Ruvik for its kindness with sedatives. It often made him nauseated and brought on hallucinations far worse than any he experienced normally. The side effects alone made it worthless to him.

Mahogany eyes tried to see him. "Ruvik?" A chilly hand cradling her jaw caused Juli to shiver.

He pulled the plug, drained the tub. Water splashed at his feet as he moved.

_She has no idea what we survived…_

She couldn't get out, wobbly as a fawn new to the world.

He crawled in.

Safe in his arms, she dozed.

A heavy sigh escaped Ruvik, the warmth of her body countered the chill of the air. A lump set firm in his throat as he whispered. "If it hadn't been for your actions… we all would have died today."

Juli made a sound of acknowledgement, but knew nothing of the matter at all.

That was okay.

_You'll just be my heroine._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

_Theme: It Pulls Me Under—Butterfly Boucher_

_I can't sleep._

In some ways, Ruvik was envious of Juli being able to sleep. In other ways, he was not. Sleeping made one vulnerable and his paranoias demanded vigilance.

He lay behind her for hours, curled around her as a possessive python. His face between her shoulder blades, he felt her warmth and listened to her breathe. He listened to her live under his fingertips.

He listened and put away the memories of the hospital behind him. For now, they did him no favors. Each memory of what had transpired in STEM sank him straight to the bottom of his own mind. Rage, hatred, and sorrow.

Sorrow for slicing the throat of a memory.

Perhaps that was why the phantom was leaving him alone.

_She knows._

* * *

 

_I can't sleep._

Bare and scarred feet tread along clean wooden flooring and rugs as Ruvik walked across the threshold of the parlor. He stood in the divide of shadow and firelight, blotches of blemish hidden in the dark. His stare fell on the painting above the fire when he stood stationary. The phantom's absence had made the hours since leaving STEM unbearable. He felt lonely without the phantom, to his own surprise. She was a constant lie that kept him afloat. He had never thought it would be that way.

Laura stared down at him in all of her radiant beauty. Nothing but smiles and blue eyes. A goddess who's colors had been washed away from his world long ago.

Ruvik lowered his stare.

Guilty.

A thought crossed his mind. "Do you hate me for what I've done?"

The depiction of Laura said nothing, only smiled. Nothing but blue eyes staring down at him—seeing through him. Seeing him for exactly what he was. Seeing what he had done and judging him. Her canvas and oil lips moved to say one word.

" _Traitor."_

Ruvik tried to reason with her, heart pounding in his chest. "I will bring you back… I swear that I will." His tone cracked under the pressure.

Laura said nothing for a while from her place in the painting. Her blue eyes hated him more for his betrayal. A second betrayal. They hated him in each orb of cornflower, and found him guilty of being a fool. She didn't believe him; he had refused to do as needed.

" _Nothing more than a traitor."_

He swallowed hard.

A coward and a traitor to the  _only_ person who should have mattered. He would choose his new  _pet_  over her…

" _I never want to see you again, Ruben."_

Gauging her, Ruvik's expression twisted between fury and sorrow, a pendulum of emotions. "I promise…I can undo what has been done to both of us." He pleaded in a whisper. Tears ran freely from one duct. The other had been burned out long ago from flame.

She said nothing more.

He stood hopeless.

Denied of all he needed to feel as himself.

It made him angry.

He couldn't bear the weight of her anymore.

So he washed away the last of Laura from his world.

He cut out her canvas eyes, rough lines tattering the fabric. Into the crackle of fire those blue eyes went…and could no longer judge him in any shape. Roaches ran freely from the gaping hole left in the painting as he stepped back.

_What have I done?_

* * *

 

_I can't sleep._

Poached eggs were served to him on a plate, their yellow runny. Ruvik leaned back in his chair, feeling ill. The walls crawled in cockroaches, the lights far too dim. Hunger no longer bothered him.

The clock ticked that it was five minutes past midnight.

"Are they not right, sir?" Nicholas was quick to approach at his master's gesture of removing them.

"Nothing is right, Nicholas." He pushed the chair back. Nausea rolled through him in waves as Ruvik rose and walked out of the dining room.

Duncan met him in the hallway with a slip of paper.

"What is this?" Ruvik hardly was in the mood for more games.

_I know you are upset with me._

_I have a gift waiting for you._

_It will be delivered tonight._

_-M_

A faint snort escaped Ruvik has he handed the slip back to Duncan. "Burn that." He continued on his way back to his study, worn out and in need of some solitude. The walls still crawled with insects, a sickening damp scent unwilling to leave his nostrils alone.

_Just what does the quack think he has that will keep me from tearing him to shreds for testing my tolerance of his meddling?_

Ruvik hardly gave it a second thought after that. Very soon Marcelo would be ripping his own face off and devouring it before the sun crested over the horizon in morning hue of a new day.

* * *

 

There was sunlight and the familiar scent of spiced cologne when Juli woke. Mahogany orbs revealed from beneath lids, her stare narrowed as she sat up and found herself in a bed that was not her own. She was still dressed in her work clothes, the emblem of KPD stitched on her shoulder.

_How did I get here?_

She scoured her mind, recalling her briefing…but then…

A pair of drooling jaws and an hour glass iris welcomed her from within. Ruvik…smiling in the rampant chaos. An unfamiliar boy… What was his name?

_That dream. It was so vivid, so terrifying…_

Long fingers pressed their pads against her forehead. A headache had set in. She didn't have time to recollect her thoughts, a knock at the door interrupting.

"Miss Kidman, are you awake?"

_Nicholas._

"Yes… I'll be right out." Crawling out of the bed, she found her shoes and made for the door. In the hallway, Juli was greeted by the silver haired youth.

Pale blue eyes gave the girl a once over. "You look well, Miss Kidman. Stronger, I would say."

Juli offered a smile. "Thank you, Nicholas."

He gestured for her to follow him. "Mister Victoriano will be pleased to hear you are finally awake."

"Yeah, about that… Why am I here?" A puzzled look crossed the woman's features.

Nicholas paused, looking back to her. "I… Perhaps that is a question more suited for Mr. Victoriano to answer."

Suspicion littered Juli's features.

* * *

 

Scrambled eggs, ham and toast wafted their delicious scents from the gold trim plate set in front of Kidman. Strangely, food to not entice her to eat, if anything it made her almost nauseated. A palm brought over her mouth and she turned her head to the left.

One of the maids was cleaning the fine silverware with a rag two seats down from her.

"You're sick too?" Concern wrought Withers' voice as he retrieved the plate. "I'll fetch some ginger ale for you—"

The doors on the far side leading into the dining room swung open, banging into the walls in which their hinges were fashioned to. Donned in a black suit, Ruvik's eyes surveyed everyone in the room. They rested on Juli.

"Leave us."

Every last member of the staff occupying the room slowly began to make their way out of the dining hall. The woman cleaning the silverware packed up the tray she was working out of and departed for the kitchen. None of them seemed to think anything of Ruvik's command.

Kidman watched them all leave, almost naked and afraid under his appraising gaze.

Ruvik slowly walked the length of the long table. The pads of his fingers wandered the tall carved backs of each chair. "Did you sleep well?"

Juli shook her head.

"I'm sorry." There was a weakness to his voice, the graveled tones not as rugged as they normally were.

The clock chimed that it was nine in the morning.

What was on her mind was pressing. "I had the worst nightmare last night." Her gaze lifted to his face. "But it wasn't a nightmare…was it?"

Ruvik stopped, shock etching onto his face. "Why would you say that?"

"It felt too real to be a dream." Juli adverted her eyes from him. She was almost fearful that looking into those pools of steel would give her away. Give her away as spying on him, watching him for the benefits of others. She had to know, however.

" _You're going to win this battle of wills for us."_

She hid her shame under a blank expression.

Ruvik broke the silence. "No, it wasn't just a dream." Slowly he approached the head of the table, bandaged fingers rolling their pads over an effigy carved into the wooden back.

Juli's eyes lifted to meet his.

"The machine I'm working on… Jimenez put you into it, hoping that it would motivate me to finish it." He pulled the chair out, taking a seat.

"I don't understand." Juli replied, arms folding across her chest as she leaned back in her seat.

Ruvik sighed deeply, slumped against the back of the chair. "It's…complicated to explain everything to someone even familiar with psychology." He swallowed hard. Long fingers ran over the clean wooden table. "I can't tell you exactly what it is. Not yet. What I can tell you is that it will change the world for the better."

"How?" The moment she had been waiting for, the veil lifted from this shadowy project, had finally come.

Ruvik closed his eyes with a sigh. "I can't tell you, my joy." Lids lifted from tired eyes. "The…uses for it are endless, though. It will change the world. That should be enough of an answer for you…for now."

"That…doesn't sound so bad." Juli replied.

Long fingers fidgeted over bandaging. "You'd think that it wouldn't be so dreadful. However, the work involved to make it function has been…taxing. Jimenez is fortunate enough to keep his neck after throwing you into it."

"What do you mean?"

"The machine has..." He scoured his mind for the right words. "Had…unfortunate side effects. I cannot tell you more than that."

Juli's brows rose. "So, why would he put me into it if it is dangerous? I… I don't get it."

A wounded expression filled Ruvik's face as he looked down to the other end of the table. "He knew I would do anything to protect you."

Silence filled the void between them as they sat.

"So… that dream I had… That was from your machine?"

Ruvik nodded slowly. "It was no dream."

"I…see." Kidman wasn't entirely sure how to process that.

Fingers drummed against the dark wood of the table.

_I need to focus on my work… complete the machine. She has to go. If she ever found out what I was doing…_

The clock ticked on the wall.

Juli swore she could hear herself blink.

"Perhaps…we should stop here." Ruvik uttered softly.

Kidman's eyes lifted. "What do you mean?"

"I…cannot risk further complications with this project. You did not deserve in any way, shape or form to be thrown into that sordid world." Ruvik's long fingers reached out to her only to be left holding air.

She refused to take that hand. Under brown locks framing her features, Juli's shocked expression could not be hidden. "You're leaving me?"

Ruvik rose from his seat, striding toward the doors he had previously entered. "I'm only trying to protect you. It's better this way."

Confusion and hurt bit into Juli's ribcage as a hungry animal. "I… You… You can't do this to me!" The chair groaned as she rose to her feet. A candle's flame flickered between them. "You can't just check out of my life like it never mattered!"

Ruvik paused, glancing over his shoulder. "I can't let anything happen to you, my joy. You want your freedom; this is the price of it. I can't cage you. I can't hire someone to monitor you every moment of every day. Jimenez—"

"Oh  _fuck_  him. I can take care of him with a pair of handcuffs. I'm talking about _you_." Her face was red, voice timid. "You told me that you loved me…"

_Get rid of her…before he decides that she is a perfect candidate to cow you along more. Even your deep pockets could never protect her from Mobius._

Expression smoothing out over bandaged features, Ruvik buried her influence like a corpse. "I lied."

Kidman's jaw dropped.

Dead gray pools met her gaze evenly. "You're a cop, couldn't you tell?" Without further elaboration, Ruvik was out the door and gone.

Juli wept until Nicholas approached her side and led her toward the town car waiting outside.

* * *

 

The walls of his home looked…different. He almost could still hear her unrelenting sobs as he walked.

The halls leading down into his lab felt so alien to him now.

Too long…too long he spent in her world.

The world above…her world… He had been there too long and thought he belonged.

No, his own Hades was where he belonged, toiling for a life free of the husk that had brought him so much misery.

In the hospital, everything else felt…different. STEM itself… it didn't call to him as it once did. Research notes, they were written in his tight handwriting but they were like sand script to him. Papers fluttering from his hand, he stepped toward the device, one foot after the other. Long fingers ran over the porcelain side of the core tank.

Dead gray stars lifting, he knew what had to be done. The only way to protect his work…

_A failsafe. It should only function when my mind is at the core…_

The next morning, the old man was in for a surprise.

It was enough to invoke a grin on his face.


	21. Chapter 21

 Chapter 21

"Aberrant brain wave patterns observed in subject numbers 25 and 33, and now again in 55. The one common factor is a case history of disassociate identity disorder. Previous experiments on the prefrontal cortex led to degradation of sense of self, but there were unanticipated results here: suicidal thoughts of alternate personalities exhibited as attacks on the core personality. All self-consciousness waned, a sort of stasis was achieved, like two creatures sewn together and forced to live as one, eternally hating the other. Delicious." A digit clicked the stop button on the recorder, a heavy sigh following. Leaned back in the chair, Ruvik pondered taking another leap…connecting himself again to STEM. The outside world was deprived of all he needed to feel whole, to fill his own deep void. Their maddening screams and torment were the only lullaby that let him rest.

A glance to the clock told him it was nine thirty-five.

_I've already nailed down twelve hours of work. No need to continue further tonight. The failsafe is in place. That was what I set out to do. No more playing games behind my back, Marcelo._

A gentle knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. "Come in."

Tatiana's slim hand turned the knob as she opened the door, sliding into the room before shutting it behind her. "Everyone has been returned to their rooms, though most of them seem to be worse after the experiment. Dr. Jimenez has turned in for the night. I was asked to tell you to do the same."

Ruvik's sidelong gaze met the woman's own. "He expects miracles when he doesn't even bother to be consistent."

The brunette woman frowned behind her glasses. "It must be frustrating."

"Quite. It is why you are here." Ruvik rose to his feet, snatching his jacket from the back of the chair before sliding it on.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Clean the tanks out, write down any observations you find pertinent when you check on numbers 25, 33, and…55." Ruvik checked his notes over once more. "After that, you can go home."

Tatiana's ruby lips curled into a smile. "I can do that." Her eyes followed the man as he moved. She felt compelled to say something. Perhaps it had always been in her nature to reach out to others suffering. "I…am sorry that things didn't work out."

Ruvik paused at the door.

"Between you and…Kid."

Under his bandages, Ruvik tried to hide a glare before opening the door and departing. It wasn't the nurse he was upset with.

_I did this to myself._

* * *

 

"What happened?" Marcelo asked, sipping on his heated cup of coffee. It tasted like day old hell but he drank it anyway. The 24 hour gas station served nothing else.

Juli shook her head, leaning against the side of her car. "You tell me. I'm still half in the dark about what happened.  _You_ stuck me in his machine on their orders. He lost it." She made a gesture with both palms moving skyward. "I don't know, he just unraveled and then dismissed me like a servant in the course of five minutes."

"I'm not surprised. He is unstable…very paranoid and quite frankly the only reason he even wanted you was…"

Kidman lifted a brow.

Marcelo decided to spare the girl's feelings. "Well, that doesn't matter now."

"It matters to Mobius. He doesn't trust you, and they  _know_  it. They…asked me to watch him and…"

Marcelo's expression hardened. "They don't think I can keep him under control long enough to finish it?"

Juli nodded, deciding it was to her benefit to find an ally in all of the mess. "They went so far as to say I could use any means necessary to push you out of the way if things continued as they are. They want him to have a handler that he can't say 'No' to."

Shock erupted the age doctor's face. His expression settled after. "And…they're probably right. It was a mistake on their part and mine to put you in if that was their desire. It pushed him over the ledge and now he's putting as much distance as he can between me… and his impression of what you are." A soft snort and he shook his head. "What a fucking dramatic mess…" Finishing off the coffee Marcelo pondered for a moment, the heavy lines of his forehead lifting. "How about we make a compromise?"

"I'm listening."

"Someone like you… doesn't have the training or knowledge to run STEM. He is going to get rid of it once he is done with it. Mobius needs more operators for it other than Ruben himself."

"What is STEM exactly?" Juli asked.

"It is a device that will change everything from mental illness treatments to interrogation tactics used by law enforcement. It creates a world from the minds that are linked to it all at once. Within that, the possibilities are completely endless. What you saw… is STEM. Your thoughts, feelings, and memories all coiled together into a mass with more pathways than the brain itself has." Marcelo ran a hand through his thinning hair. "But, it is still in trial stages and hard to manage. I need to know everything I can about the machine in order to operate another for Mobius. They're building one in the basement of HQ. You should probably know about that." He looked at the woman thoughtfully. "I'm an old man running a hospital with little hope to be doing more than that with his life. Let me continue what I am doing. Let me help him make history, Juli."

Frosty tones laced her voice as Kidman replied. "Fine, I can agree that I have no reason to try pushing you aside at this point. What do I get in return?"

"My support and assistance, of course."

Juli let off a snort. "No offense, Doc… but I don't know what you could possibly do for me. I'm out of treatment; it isn't as though I need a prescription of Xanax filled."

Marcelo smiled briefly. "You never know. It's always wise to have friends, Juli. Especially those who know you entirely. As far as Ruben goes… I think we're both out of our comfort zones and carving a trail that is leading to nowhere."

"I agree. He's…" Juli's voice trailed off. "I just don't know what to make of him like this."

Marcelo nodded. "Perhaps it is best he be left alone for now. Let him seek you out."

Juli's expression stiffened.

"Give yourself some time to pull yourself together."

* * *

 

Juli looked up only to have a case file dropped on her desk. "What's this?"

"Your first assignment, Junior Detective," Sebastian hardly seemed to have the time to answer any questions she might have. "Joseph will brief you in an hour."

"Right…" She watched him shut the door to his office with a sigh. Manilla folder flipped open; Juli was greeted with the first of many grizzly photographs.

Three women, torn panties and severed throats. The interior of their thighs blue on black. All around her age, their appearances a classic rape and murder. Flipping through the glossy photographs, she frowned.

_Every last one of them is missing their left hand…_

She looked up to the window leading into Sebastian's office.

He looked exhausted behind his desk, a cigarette hanging from his lips as he pecked at keys on his keyboard.

Sad and tired.

There was a lonely hue to his stare, even when he was focusing on work.

Juli decided against raising red flags until Joseph showed up.

Sebastian had enough on his weary mind.

* * *

 

Four days passed before Marcelo found Kidman in his office in Beacon. "Forensic Psychology? I had no idea you actually held some interest in what we do here. Though I sense ulterior motives…" An aged grin dubbed the older man's features.

Juli pushed back the sleeves on the crimson red shirt adorning her top. "My newest case has sparked my interest. Our residential psychologist doesn't share my thoughts on a case. I believe we have a new serial killer browsing Krimson City's youth… He doesn't share my beliefs."

"That happens often. You should trust your gut instinct during such a time. So your plan is to get inside this killer's mind?"

"A piece of it. I'm not fond of gruesome crime scenes and crying mothers who wish I wouldn't haul their sons off to jail. I would like to be assigned to something else eventually."

"Well, I suppose I can lend a hand with this…considering the favor  _you've_  done for me." Marcelo held some skepticism as he opened the case file. Lifting one of the glossed photographs, he frowned. "I won't just do the work for you, however."

"I never expected you to."

Tatiana shot a glance up from her magazine at the nursing station. Her ruby lips spread into a wide grin as she viewed Juli approaching. "Well, I'm not surprised to see you here already. But, I will play along. What are you doing here so late at night?"

Juli smiled sheepishly. "Just…considering a different career path in psychology and getting some expert advice on a case I'm working." She replied.

"Psychology? You? Oh goodie, maybe you can figure out men and relay the information to your sisters in arms." Magazine closed, Tatiana rubbed the bridge of her nose under her glasses.

Curiosity surfaced on Kidman's features. "You and Rudy are fighting?"

"A bit. He's not fond of me working so late in a wing that is usually deserted. He thinks some sort of ghost lives in the hospital and will tear me apart one night while I'm checking locks."

"I don't blame him. This place gives me the creeps." Despite speaking softly, Juli's voice still seemed to carry in the dimness of the hospital.

A brow lifted, Tatiana's long fingers went for her pack of cigarettes. "After a while, you start to get used to its character." Sauntering past Kidman, she pulled off her nurse's cap. "He's in the basement. You don't have to pretend that you're here to see me."

"I'm not here to see him." Alarm in her voice gave her away.

Tatiana's silhouette waved its fingers over her shoulder. "Whatever you say."

Juli shot a frown at the door labeled 'Basement'.

She almost went down the steps. Something kept her feet at the top, gazing down into a black abyss only lit by a distant light far down a hidden hall.

* * *

 

Five more days came and went before Juli was able to return to the hospital. Five days of pinning a board, hunting down witnesses… It dragged on forever. By then, she was itching for an excuse to go down the steps.

Maybe even take them two at a time.

Nails ticking against the oak bar, she looked the definition of bored at the nursing station.

Tatiana raised a brow behind her glasses, slowly filing her nails. "You know, as much as I love having an armed and  _very_  attractive police officer at my desk… if you refuse to walk down those steps yourself I will call him up here."

Juli looked at her sidelong. "I'm waiting for Dr. Jimenez, for the last time. And you wouldn't  _dare_."

A smug look on her features, the nurse lifted the phone from its cradle. "I've picked up the phone."

"Tatiana, no."

Each number punched blipped softly. "I'm dialing."

Kidman called the bluff, glaring down at her.

"It's  _ringing_ …"

"You're lying."

"Mister Victoriano, it's Tatiana."

" _Shit."_ Juli softly cursed, moving away from the nursing station and into the darkness between the exit light and the lamp on the station. Her heeled boots clicked as she paced.

"You have a visitor. Uh-huh, I will send her right down. Thank you." Tatiana was practically purring when she dropped the phone back to receiver.

Juli glowered.

Reclined in her seat, Tatiana could only smile as she resumed filing her nails. "I had to. You are distracting me from my work."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You  _love_  me. I'm like the big sister you never had… Now go, I have plenty of filing to do without you distracting me."

Stare shifted to the door, the cropped haired brunette stood unmoving.

"Go, before I call him back to meet you up here. Then you'll face me making kissy faces and I know how much you  _love_  that. If anything invite him to spend Christmas with us. That should make for awkward conversation." Tatiana could hardly contain a pearly smile as she watched Kidman go.

Juli swore she could hear laughing all the way to the bottom step.

It took every nerve left in her body to open that door at the bottom landing.

* * *

 

"Why are you here?"

Surprise was hardly an adequate word to describe Ruvik's expression when  _she_  emerged from the dark doused in crimson from head to toe. Over a cadaver, scalpel in his grasp, shock littered his face.

The pungent scent of bleach and preserving chemicals wafted into Juli's nostrils as she came to a stop. Nude glossed lips pressed to a thin line before she spoke. "I am going to say something and then you can say whatever you want."

Scalpel dropped into the tray of dirty instruments, Ruvik nodded as he reached over for a rag to clean his latex covered hands. An old habit.

"You had no right to just  _check out_  again. You also had no right to lie to my face and say you never cared. It's bullshit. You do not do that to people." Juli could hear the rattle in her own voice but continued anyway. "I love you. Whether you can accept that or not is something I'm not entirely sure of. Your emotions swing like a pendulum. One minute you acted like a knight in shining armor… the next you were throwing me out and leaving me feeling like trash."

Ruvik looked away in his silence, clearing his throat.

"You've only lied to me once…and  _dammit_ look at me!"

He obeyed, a string of amusement found in his lips. Her gall charmed him as it always did.

It made her red and angry. "You lied about not caring. I know you care and I know you think you're protecting me…"

Dead gray stars regarded her, breath held.

Juli almost considered telling him the truth that she had hidden from him. Almost. "But you can't protect me from everything and you're not protecting me by hurting me. I think… I know why you're doing this over and over."

Silence devoured the air between them.

A milky iris glared up at Ruvik from the examination table.

Long fingers raked through unruly brown locks. "I think it's because you were never able to protect your sister. She died in the fire…and… I think part of you keeps yourself from me because you think…" She trailed off, trying to collect her thoughts. "You think that it was your fault and if anything would happen to me that it'd be your fault again."

Ruvik's expression dropped flat. Worse than flat.

"That's why you're afraid to be involved with anyone, isn't it? I can't imagine the pain you carry. Every day you have to look at the memory burned into you…and you blame yourself. Ruvik, you can't blame yourself. You were a kid."

"Stop," Ruvik uttered softly in protest with a hand lifted and splayed.

Juli stopped, the rims of her eyes running red. "I just… I want you to know that I can take care of myself. I am a cop, you know. I face monsters every day that you could not believe existed. And I put them away for a very long time. You don't have to always worry about me. I… I feel better lately. I don't need the medication." An epiphany crossed her tired mind. "I…I don't know what happened. I feel revived."

An unreadable look crossed Victoriano's features as he surveyed Kidman. There was something…different. The way she carried herself, the way she spoke. Even the gaze in her eyes was somehow different. Stronger. But how?

_STEM… The experience inside of the machine must have triggered something…_

Latex snapped off of each palm, Ruvik dumped the dirtied gloves into the appropriate basket. "I am well aware that you can take care of yourself,  _Kid_. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. However, the circumstances are not…normal. I'm sorry."

She caught a tear with the edge of a digit, not allowing it past the apple of her cheek bone. "If… If you just hide down here your entire life: you'll never live, Ruvik."

He couldn't argue with that at the present moment so he said nothing.

Certain of a loss, Juli sighed. "I think… I said all I needed to say."

Alarm managed to free itself onto his face as he watched her go. He moved to follow her only to have a door slammed as he came around the corner. Alone in the dark with only corpses for company.

Had he not convinced himself that was where he belonged?

What had been a game was no longer one.

He couldn't fool himself as to how involved he had become...

* * *

 

A month had passed. Marcelo could not offer as much as he had promised, but he did manage to give a more suitable psychoanalysis than the KPD's psychologist had been able to. He also gave her access to the library in the hospital. That was good enough for Kidman. It would give her more insight. Prepare her for what was to come when she faced this monster… and for the life she sought to have away from bloodshed and the darkest parts of society.

_It could be my ticket out of this dump of an assignment._

Whatever Mobius had planned for this machine, she wanted in on it. Watching the detectives at KPD seemed below her. Weeks would go by with little to report other than the pair sneaking off together.

One paragraph typed and a few photos seemed like child's play for the woman seasoned enough to hold her own.

Then there was the rest of the department. Recently she had been dubbed a 'cold fish' behind her back in a breakroom over coffee. It had been Joseph who snickered about it in the break room with some of the patrol cops. She had never thought him to be the type.

_As if I give a shit what they think…_

She just wanted to move on to something else. So she prepared for that in the cramped corner of the hospital's library. Pencil dropped, she highlighted another section.

" _As one moves up the evolutionary scale, development of the nervous system shows an increase in brain tissue devoted to the cerebral cortex."_

She really just hated going home to an empty apartment with a piano that was collecting dust.

"The most obvious difference between the brain of a human and the brain of a carp is…" She shifted her notes, hunting for the page she had marked.

"The cerebral cortex," A voice answered from the dark.

Juli lifted her gaze from the lamplight of the books.

A trick of the darkness and light, the melding shadows gave way as Ruvik stepped into view. Two cups in his grasp, he slowly approached the mess that was Juli's studying. The smell of coffee wafted in the air from each steaming cup. Both cups rested on a bare spot of the table, he slid a chair for himself closer and sat. The look on his face was unreadable.

She didn't dare speak first.

"Do you remember what I said to you in the hospital?" Gray eyes fixed to her, he picked up one of the cups for himself. Taking a sip, he caught a glimpse of her shaking her head. "I said that I never thought I would meet someone who understood me the way that Laura did." A digit ran the ring of the cup. "I was wrong….twice now."

Highlighter dropped on the book, Juli shrugged her shoulders. "Okay."

"I've never been involved with someone the way that I am with you. Everything has been fleeting, pointless, and nobody ever fought back when I was done."

Juli's gaze returned to the notes she was taking. "Maybe you just picked the wrong people."

"Maybe I did." It was a close to an apology as she was going to get. Ruvik's attention shifted to the folder resting over two open volumes. He didn't ask for permission. Lifting the weighty file from the books, Ruvik flipped it open. Hairless brows rising, he lifted his stare to Juli. "This is why you're here?"

She nodded slowly, highlighter rotating between her fingers. "He's killed again… Twice since the case was handed to me. Up to five victims…"

Thumbnail running over his bottom lip, Ruvik chuckled. Pearly white teeth exposed themselves over the scars of his mouth. He flipped between the pictures, browsed over the loopy handwriting of Juli's notes. Coroner's report was full of tantalizing details.

_This… This is my kind of game._

"Are you so certain the attacker is male?"

Juli sat up, digging through the disheveled pile of papers. "I swore Dr. Jimenez…"

"He doesn't know jack, Kid."

She paused, peering up at him.

Ruvik laid out three of the crime scene photos. "All of these women are missing their left hand… and on a left hand is a very important ring." He dropped the file back onto the pile.

A grizzly photograph fell into Kidman's lap.

Juli couldn't remove her stare from Ruvik. "A wedding ring? You think some woman is killing other women because they were married?"

Ruvik tried to hide a smirk at her doubt. "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. A tragic affair."

Disbelief scoured her face. "No, that's just ridiculous." Juli flipped through the photos, trying to find how he connected such a story together. "How?"

"Well, I believe how she did it is as plain as day. Make it look like a rape to throw you off."

"You know what I mean." She fought the urge to pinch him for mocking her.

The clock chimed on the far wall.

Scarred lips tugged oddly as he grinned. Rising to his feet, Ruvik picked up his cup of coffee. He flicked away speck of something from his sleeve. "It's five in the morning…"

Juli sighed, looking at her watch. "I know… I've been at this all night trying to get into… well now the killer is a 'her'…"

Gaze narrowing, Victoriano watched her flip books shut and pile crime scene photos back into the folders they usually occupied. So much mess, so much disorder. He couldn't remember if she was tidy or not before STEM…

"I don't know what I'm going to do…" Juli uttered softly. "If I screw this up… I lose everything." Her mahogany orbs peered up to him. "I'm sorry; it's not your problem."

_Why does she say that?_

Another check of her watch and she was heading for the door. "I have to go."

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to get what he wanted. More than anything, he didn't want her to just go.

_Not like this._

* * *

 

Ruvik caught her at the elevator.

Breathless, he thumped the stop button.

The yellow light overhead doused them both in sunny color.

When the gate closed, his mouth found hers.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_This is the very ecstasy of love_

_Whose violent property foredoes itself,_

_And leads the will to desperate undertakings._

_-William Shakespeare, Hamlet_

"You haven't learned anything since I had this put in your house."

Juli peered out from splayed fingers with a sigh. She stretched her sock covered toes, nudging one of several piles of papers now covering her coffee table. For one reason or another, Joseph had left every bit of work to her. Maybe he was testing her, hoping she would give up. Juli couldn't be sure. What she was sure of was a lack of sleep for weeks to come. "I am worn out from reading tear drenched statement after tear drenched statement. Can't we just cuddle?"

Ruvik peering over his shoulder to her. "I wanted to teach you. Music is a powerful outlet, my joy. You need something to clear your mind."

Hand dropped, Juli's stare pitched to the ceiling. "I don't want to tonight… Just cuddle with me."

He plucked a few keys, silent in place of replying to her words. Those words cut him deep, though he could not find fault in her. His faultless girl could do no wrong in his eyes. He would lick at the wound she gave his ego.

Juli flipped to another channel, settling on a bit of reality TV. The drone of bickering filled the air of the room.

Though licking a wound, he would still get his way. Calm as a pond, Ruvik's bare and scarred fingers reached out and blindly shoved the TV off its stand. Cables shred and the electronic device hit the ground with a smack. Glass of the screen cracked into gleaming shards. Ruined, it blipped black.

"What the fuck!" Juli sat straight up.

He had no reply, only a smirk on his features as he continued to play. Haunting tones erupted from the piano's black body with each keystroke.

Juli let out a sigh, dropping the remote in her lap. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

He had no reply for that.

Sighing deeply, she rose to her feet and dropped down next to him on the bench with a slouch.

Ruvik regarded her through pools of gray. "Oh, hello my joy. Did you hear something?" He grinned.

"Yeah, you were destroying my tube."

Brows raised and lids heavy, he nodded. "It was outdated anyway."

"I'm tired, Ruvik. I suck at this." Her head went to his shoulder with a groan.

"I was terrible too…now I'm very good at this."

Juli sighed and swayed away from him, a few keys plinking their notes as her elbow came to rest on them. "I just want to vegetate for a while. I've had a long week."

"Vegetation grows. You were not growing as a person laying there in a heap." His gray eyes observed her briefly. "We'll curl up in bed in a bit. I'll tell you how beautiful you are and how so-so was just a resentful vagrant when she disagreed with you at work today."

Juli snorted, forehead against her palm as she looked toward the remnants of her TV. "My poor TV. You're a jerk…"

"I am  _your_  jerk." He smiled, lips tugged and pearl teeth exposed.

"Yeah…you are. Please replace my TV."

"I will…after you learn one song, I will."

"Promise?"

"I promise, my joy."

She leaned over, pecking a kiss on his scarred cheek. "You're the best. Still a jerk, but the best."

"Best jerk? I'm flattered."

Leaning up, she watched his fingers fly over the keys. "What am I learning?"

Inhaling, his chest rose then fell on exhale. "I am still deciding that…"

Juli lifted a brow. "And you're playing…?"

" _Moonlight Sonata_." He uttered softly.

"I feel like I've heard it before." Juli replied. "A long time ago."

"Not surprising, I felt that way too when I first heard it. Classical music is built differently than modern music. It can be used to sell just about anything in a television ad, including toilet tissue."

"Nice." Kidman laughed softly, rising from the bench.

Hairless brows rose as the woman left his side. "Now where are you going?"

"To my wine rack. Please don't smash it too…"

Ruvik snickered softly.

* * *

 

"What made you change your mind?" Juli asked, appendages tangled around Ruvik's on the floor. Sock covered toes ran along the inside of a calf, causing a twitch. Half empty wine glasses shined from atop two piles of forgotten papers. The TV was next to the door, broken and destined for the dumpster.

Ruvik's sidelong gaze met the woman's own, silent as the grave.

The black cat clock chimed softly: nine-thirty at night.

Juli's nude colored lips pressed into a thin line as she waited for his reply.

Gray eyes softened their stare as he replied weak and softly. "I can't stay away from you."

She smiled. "I can't stay away from you either."

One duct that still functioned watered over and Ruvik looked away. A gentle hand brought him back. The pad of her thumb brushing the tear away. "Why do you stay? Why do you put up with me?"

A thoughtful look crossed her face. "I never thought I was just putting up with you."

Long fingers roamed along her throat. "Why do you stay then?"

Lids fell and lifted as she replied. "I love you."

Ruvik's lips twitched into a smirk. "You make it sound so simple."

"Why does it have to be complicated?"

Dead gray stars shifted to the ceiling in thought. Shadows stretching where light could not reach was his focus. "I don't really know. Maybe I always expected complicated…"

"Our lives are complicated enough. What I feel for you is simple."

"It's unrelenting is what it is." Ruvik laughed softly. "I'm grateful for it, regardless."

"You are?" She sounded almost insecure.

"I am." Strength returning, he kissed where a beautiful vein in pearl blue coursed along her wrist.

* * *

 

It weighed on her mind for the longest time. Juli waited until they were safe in her bed under sheets and comforter before she mentioned it.

"STEM…"

Ruvik let out a sigh.

"What…happened in there that sent you into a panic? Were we really in so much danger that you would…send me away?"

"Those I work for… I don't want them to have leverage over me. You could be leverage. I thought I needed to focus more on my work. You distract me from it." He admitted in the dark, fingers running over the slope of her shoulder. Nails grazed over the soft skin and he felt undone.

At peace.

Juli was quiet for the longest time. "I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault." He was quick to ease tensions. "I…need to delegate work instead of running myself ragged. Your friend, the nurse, she has eased some of the workload."

She changed the subject, curiously. "Is it always like that? I thought my heart was going to jump through my chest when we were…in it." Juli stumbled over words, still having issues grasping everything that had happened.

"No, it's very different when I am the core. The world inside is a simulation of memories by those who are connected to it. Marcelo… he thought that a criminally insane man's mind wouldn't affect it. He was wrong."

"Could we… like… you and I go into it someday?" She had to play her cards carefully.

"Us? Go into STEM alone together?"

Juli rested her jaw against his chest. "If…we can?"

Ruvik couldn't say he hadn't considered the idea before. There were a few things he wanted with her in that world. Things that were beyond his grasp at the moment. Things…that money could not buy. "Maybe. Why are you so interested?"

She shrugged, the white stones that were her nails glided up and down the flesh covering his breastbone. "I saw something there… That boy who was with us…he kept me from looking at it."

Silence on Ruvik's end, though his brows rose.

"I…I thought I saw the shadow of my mother rocking in her old chair." Juli made a nervous sound. "Just like the old days… when she'd rock and wait for the next sermon. God, it just…" Her unravelling was silenced by a gentle finger on her lips.

"I'll make sure you can find what you were looking for."

"Thank you."

"And I'll replace the television."

Juli laughed against the hollow of his throat, shaking her head. Her nose was full of his cologne until his mouth found her own.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_Theme: Sentient—Mr. FijiWiji_

"Your real name… It's Ruben, isn't it?"

"It is." Annoyance littered the tone of Ruvik's voice. Not even his one joy could be spared the grumbling tone while he browsed the paper. The comic section didn't hold any laughs for him, despite the attempts found in colored ink.

Juli turned from the stove, brown eyes gazing to the bar where Ruvik sat. His attire of a white t-shirt and duck covered pajama pants made her smile—mostly because he pretended to hate wearing them.

His gray eyes gave him away though, behind the fresh cup of black coffee.

The smell of bacon and eggs cooked in the skillet, warming the air above them. Her questions continued. "So…why did you want me to call you Ruvik?"

Ruvik set the mug down on the bar, stare drifting toward where the house coat cut high along her thighs and then back to the newspaper. "When my parents died I put that part of my life behind me. I didn't want to be known as Ruben. Ruben was a boy who didn't manage an empire left to him. Some people  _still_  insist on using that name." His brows rose as he peered up. "The eggs are burning."

" _Shit!"_  Juli turned away, killing the heat on the stove. The eggs were already ruined. With a sad sigh, she scooped them both into the garbage compactor.

The smoke detector went off in a long and loud beep.

"I'll just have toast. Preferably not black." His lips curled into a Cheshire grin when she shot him a dirty look.

"Very funny." Juli said with a sad sigh. The bacon had been spared and was slid onto a plate. "Thank my lucky stars that you have a cook for yourself."

"…And that I can cook eggs." His smile was dosed by a dish towel tossed at him. Ruvik snickered, pulling the towel off and setting it aside. His attention lifted to the board on the wall littered with crime scene photos. Papers and folders littered the counter space below the board. The case was eating up her home… eating up Juli herself in many ways. He'd noticed.

It bothered him too much.

Not enough for him to speak frankly.

"Do you think you'll catch her?"

"Who?"

"The wedding ring murderer." He replied, sliding from his seat to approach the board and the mess of papers on the countertop.

Juli frowned. "I don't know." It was as honest an answer as any while she wiped black baked on egg from the inside of her no-stick skillet. She knew she was good as canned if she couldn't crack the case. They didn't want her in homicide. They had made that very clear.

_Who knows what Mobius will do about that._

Ruvik gazed back at her, frowning in turn to her disillusioned expression. "I think you will."

Juli set the pan aside, joining him at the board. "There is something missing to all of this… These women were in happy marriages. No signs of…" Her voice trailed off, reaching for answers that she just didn't have.

"I know, my joy. They were good people slew too early." He unpinned one of the photos, fingers smoothing along the dog eared edges. Ruvik looked hard at the photograph. He felt detached from the situation where she felt empathy. He hardly could be envious of her. Empathy could never beat his calculating mind. He could pretend it for her at least…spare her some of his darker traits. Spare what he assumed would make her uncomfortable.

"What do you think?" She dared to ask, chin over his shoulder.

He glanced at her sidelong. "You have your work cut out for you."

Juli sighed. "Yeah… I do. I just hope I catch her before they throw me out of Homicide."

Ruvik narrowed his gaze, pinning the picture back in place. "They're threatening that?" A dangerous and protective tone hid in that question.

One that Kidman knew all too well. Juli stepped back, moving to sit at the bar where her coffee waited for her in a kitty-cat mug. She sighed. "It's just a gut feeling…"

"You should never ignore those." He replied, swiping a piece of bacon off the plate, leaning across from Juli.

Juli smiled, an amused sound leaving her. "If I always trusted my gut instinct…" Her eyes lifted from the marble top of the bar.

Ruvik quietly chewed at the overcooked bacon, peering back at her.

"…Never mind. It's nothing."

He didn't press for an answer. He already knew what it was.

* * *

"Oh my, ominous black car pulled up by my house. I wonder who it could be." Tatiana snickered above the drone of music pouring from the speakers in the living room.

"Did we win Publisher's Clearing House, baby?" A voice called from the kitchen.

"I don't think so, Rudy. Not at eight at night." Blinds flicked back, Tatiana sauntered toward the stairs leading to the second floor. "Juli, someone's here for you. Don't bust your butt on the front step welcoming him inside. It's slick with ice outside."

Juli nearly busted her rump trying to go down the stairs in a new pair of heels. "Dammit!" Stopping at the landing, she adjusted and readjusted the hem of her black cocktail dress. "Tatiana, why do you live in a house with stairs that try to kill me every time I go down them?"

"Blame Rudy, he was supposed to fix them last spring." Tatiana was all smiles as the other woman carefully descended the bottom flight of stairs. "You look nice. Strapless? Someone is getting lucky tonight." She dodged Juli's attempt to pinch her. "Be nice!"

For once Juli felt at ease. New Year's Eve and she was the lucky girl to have the night off. A break had come into the case, and she had a chance to let her hair down and not spend the chilly night in a back alley with the crime scene boys. A suspect in custody, it was the DA's problem now. She checked herself in the long mirror by the door, tugging at a curl in her hair once. "Do I look okay?"

"Do you look okay?" Tatiana dusted the back of the dress. "No, you look hot. Shut up and answer the door." The long haired brunette grinned before climbing up the stairs. "Rudy, we're leaving in thirty minutes and I know you're not wearing your work clothes."

"Just a minute! I think I have the sink fixed." A voice called from the kitchen.

Disregarding the couples squabbling, Juli twisted the long and elegant handle to the front door. The chill of the night rushed to greet her. Breath foggy, she smiled despite the cold. "I didn't think you were going to make it."

Draped in black from head to toe, Ruvik followed her inside. "The roads outside of Krimson City are closing. I'm stuck in the city for the night." Scarf pulled off, he visibly shivered under the bandaging. "I just hope the power doesn't go out." It'd taken quite a bit of begging on Juli's behalf to get him out in public.

It always made him nervous and angry. People always stared.

With her, he cared less.

Less than he used to anyway.

Juli reached up, pulling at the brim of the cap shrouding most of the bandaging on his head. "You're wearing a brimmed beanie." She couldn't help but giggle.

"It's my favorite hat. What's wrong with it?" Ruvik dusted snow from the shoulder of his wool jacket.

Juli's lips pressed into a thin line. "Nothing."

Gray stars narrowing, his appraising gaze shifted up and down her form as he narrowed the gap between them. A hand sliding to the small of Juli's back, amusement strung over his lips. "You look…" He paused, searching for the right word to expel. None came to mind that could do justice for his joy. His perfect little pet, dressed to impress him.

No one else.

He could only grin like an idiot.

It was as close to a compliment as she needed. The brunette looked away and then back to him, cheeks rose in color. "Thank you..."

Ruvik's gaze lifted from her as someone stepped into his peripheral view.

A burly man, six feet tall easily. His red beard hid a friendly smile while he cleaned his hands up with a greasy rag.

Juli sidestepped, a hand resting over black fabric on Ruvik's chest. "Oh, this is Rudy. Tatiana's fiancée."

Rudy moved forward, extending a hand to exchange pleasantries. "How ya doin?"

Ruvik almost recoiled. He forced his own hand to extend for the pleasantry. "Ruben Victoriano, a pleasure to meet you."

"RUDY!" Tatiana yelled from the second floor.

"What?" Rudy had already forgotten the pair as he made his way up the stairs. "I told you I'd get ready when the sink was fixed!"

The pair left behind exchanged a look.

"They're nice people." Juli offered.

Ruvik snorted softly, drawing a small circle along where the back of her dress cut low along her spine. "I know."

* * *

Tatiana led the way in the crowded club's sea of bodies coming and going. Lights flashed in strobes to every wall. Music overwhelmed most of the other sounds as they walked.

Tatiana dragging Rudy along; she wanted a drink at the bar.

Juli and Ruvik, following behind at a much slower gate.

The crowd was almost overwhelming for Ruvik, masked as he was. Nobody seemed to notice or care.

It still couldn't hide his wary eyes.

_Crowds always give me anxiety…_

The crowd itself didn't bother him half as much as the music. Cheap, new and recycled from old; much like everything else in the world.

Juli reassured him, her hand sliding from his bicep to smooth along the length of his back. Over the drone of music, she yelled. "Maybe we should go upstairs?"

He nodded and allowed her to lead the way.

The second floor was far more welcoming. Long balconies overlooked the pit of moving bodies below. Leather couches and chairs were gathered in clusters for groups looking to enjoy the atmosphere without the crowd below.

Ruvik sat where he could still watch the masses below. Warm black leather of the couch was hospitable.

Juli slid to sit next to him. She had grown accustomed to his people watching.

Ruvik's stare shifted over the crowd, eyes narrowing as he moved his stare from face to face, body to body.

_Consuming alcohol for the sole purpose of forgetting their lives are as meaningless as the next person's. Another year at a dead end job. Another year of being nothing more than a pawn in a game they have no control over. All of them nothing more than gnats on the carcass._

Juli brought him back from his thoughts with the offering of a glass full of spirits.

Dry martini.

_Am I to become one of them if things continue this way?_

He wanted to recoil again, but took the glass and set it on the table centered on the couches. Ruvik noticed that the other pair had joined them.

Rudy was the first to speak, the drone of music lowering. "This is the right idea. I'm getting too old to be on that dance floor cutting a rug. When are the other girls going to show up?"

"In an hour. I texted them that we're up on the second floor." Tatiana went to light a cigarette. Her brows furrowed as she took note of Juli's expression. "What's wrong, Kid?"

Juli's expression was stiffened ice cold as she looked over the railing. "Louis is here…" She didn't need to point him out. Her heart was a panicked canary in a glass box.

Tatiana and Rudy looked between themselves.

Dead gray stars leered at the loner at the bar less than fifty feet from them flirting with one of the waitresses.

The man in question didn't seem to notice the four sets of eyes drilling into the back of his skull as he paid for his tab and made his way toward the men's room.

"Should we call the police?" Tatiana asked, looking back to Juli.

Kidman gave the sourest look in the world to her longtime friend. "Why? You don't think I could handle another round with him?"

Tatiana looked wounded. "I never said that but I don't see you sporting a pair of handcuffs at the moment."

Rudy frowned, turning back to face the other pair. His eyes met Ruvik's as he swiped Tatiana's pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "Maybe we should go have a little chat with him?"

Ruvik's lips curled into a smile at the very idea of having a brute like Rudy doing the heavy lifting for such a scenario. A powerhouse of muscle like that would do some serious damage…

He was just bright enough to be very useful too.

"Sure." Rising to his feet, Ruvik went to follow. Something reached out to his wrist, holding him tight. Gray stars looked down to the worried expression on Juli's face.

"Promise me you won't get yourself in trouble."

A single digit of his free hand wagged along her cheek, chilly and rough.

"I won't. Be back before you know it." Ruvik purred.

Juli didn't share his certainty but let him go anyway. When they were out of sight, she drowned the untouched martini her beau had left behind and asked for a smoke.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Louis Lazaro was just trying to take a leak. The fumes of the male restroom were enough to choke the air and he wanted to leave as soon as physically possible. He wanted to get back to the music and booze. Probably hit on that hot bartender one more time, push his luck again.

He didn't bother lifting his head when the door swung open, the volume of the music droning into the room briefly before the door shut. He didn't bother to pay attention when the water ran at the sink not even ten feet away.

One second, he was just trying to take a piss. Inebriated, doing that in itself was a task.

The next, his skull was smashed into the brick overlooking the urinal. He roared in agony, digits shrouding his forehead as he stumbled back. A swift kick laid him out on the filthy and wet floor, wincing away at the florescent lighting. "Fuck!"

"Did that hurt, Louis?" An unfamiliar sounding voice asked.

Louis rolled his head left, catching a glimpse of Italian leather shoes before he was hauled up by the front of his shirt and pinned to the wall by his throat. On instinct, both of his hands went to the wrist pinning him. Shock devoured his features as he came face to face with Rudy, red beard and all, holding him by the gullet.

"I suspect it did." The echoes of each sole passing closer filled the air before the source of the voice revealed itself. Ruvik stood stationary once he was directly in the black bearded man's line of sight. "I'm sure you remember Rudy. He told me that you two had been close once upon a time."

Louis' expression hardened as his gaze switched back and forth. "What the fuck do you fairies want?"

Ruvik sneered under the flicker of the lights above. "All he has to do is squeeze and you'll pass out. I wouldn't start making slurs if I were you."

"I can't fucking believe you, man. Beating the shit out of Kid and leaving her to rot all over a fucking motorcycle title…" Rudy was beside himself in rage. "She could have died from what you did to her."

Louis snorted. "I didn't rough her up that badly. She instigated the fight by flapping her jaws."

Ruvik sighed deeply, dusting at something on the sleeve of his suit. "Yes, because beating a woman with brass knuckles is normal." Ruvik set his stare evenly on Louis. "She had a concussion." When Louis didn't seem to even understand the words coming out of his mouth, Ruvik continued. "Cerebral hemorrhaging and the formation of clots can be a serious side effect of a concussion, which is the bruising of the brain. Clots kill, sport. Perhaps if you spent less time doing cocaine and opened a book…" He shrugged. "Maybe you would know that."

Louis laughed. "Fuck you, man. Talking to me like some sort of turn of the century aristocrat. Just fuck you."

Brows rising over an unreadable expression, Ruvik turned and walked toward the stalls. One by one, he shoved open the doors, searching for something. "You always have to attack someone who has a vocabulary that is greater than one found in a breeder bar?" He came to a stop at the last one, pinching his nose shut between his digit and thumb. "This one, Rudy."

The burly red bearded beast of a man drug the far thinner Louis right into the stall, bumping the hinged door back with his shoulder. Rudy didn't hesitate; he shoved the man's head right into the putridly almost black combination of shit and urine found in the toilet. Though Louis fought, he wasn't much of a match against a man who spent his afternoons in the gym every single day.

Outside of the stall, Ruvik checked his watch.

Only ten minutes had passed.

_We have plenty of time to play tonight, Louis._

Hauled out of the stall and thrown against one of the urinals, Louis tried to scramble for the door. The back of his jacket yanked, he was dragged and then shoved once more against the bare brick wall. He crumpled like a doll to the floor, back against the brick. Defeated, coughing and hacking from the horrible stench permeating off himself, Louis tried to wipe the filth from his face and beard.

"Now you look more adequately represented of what you actually are." Ruvik smirked.

Louis had no reply, he was too busy coughing, and the stench of the disgustingly rancid concoction all over him was too much. He vomited on himself and the tile floor.

Ruvik stepped forward, avoiding the vomit and checked the inside of Louis' coat for something.

There was little to fear from the dope fiend.

He knew he was beaten.

Ruvik retrieved a couple items from within.

Brass knuckles.

A bag of white powder.

Ruvik pocketed the brass piece. It was no longer Louis' weapon of choice.

"Who the fuck are you?" Lazaro asked.

Despite the putrid stench, Ruvik leaned dangerously close to the other man.

Millimeters from his face.

Louis recoiled. It was hard to say from fear or instinct.

Bandaged fingers reached out and twisted at the long hair adorning Louis' scalp. "This is just the beginning of what I am going to do to you. Who I am is none of your concern. Juli is  _mine_ … and you made a huge mistake when you put your hands on her. We'll see how well you ride that bike with  _stumps_ instead of hands." Ruvik uttered low and dangerously.

Louis made the mistake of trying to lunge.

Ruvik was quick to jerk back and release him.

Rudy laid the man out on the floor with a menacing right hook.

Louis was out like a light.

The pair stood over the mess. Long shadows cast over the fallen form.

"Well done." Ruvik popped the bag filled with white powder open, dumping it all over the floor. Some of it quickly absorbed into the mess of bile.

"How did you know he did coke?" Rudy asked with a raised brow.

Ruvik peered up at the taller man. "His teeth."

Rudy just shook his head, gazing down at the unmoving body of his former friend. "You know… I introduced Juli to him. I really regret it now." Digits rubbing the back of his neck, the red head sighed. "At least she's safer now. Who knows how safe she really is as a cop, though."

Ruvik didn't seem to pay much attention to the confession. Already with his phone fished out, he was busy dialing. Phone to his ear, he began to pace. Close to one of the cleaner stalls, he stopped. "Yes, I'd like to report a disturbance…"

* * *

 

"I can't believe you two. You missed midnight!" Tatiana was in rare form, popping Rudy on the arm with her clutch as they filed out of the club.

"Hey, we had to take out the trash. I think you'll find it in your heart to forgive me, beautiful." Rudy was his good natured self once more, a smile adorning his bearded face.

Tatiana just scowled. "I'll think about it."

Behind them, Juli's arm looped around Ruvik's bicep. There was a possessiveness to how she held on and concern written on her face.

Ruvik would have been a liar to say he wasn't secretly thrilled by it. He fished something out of his pocket, handing it over to her.

Juli stopped, turning to object over several times. She looked up to her counterpart. "Louis' brass knuckles?"

Nodding, Ruvik slid an arm to the small of her back and continued to guide her down the steps. "They're yours now."

At the curb, Nicholas was waiting by the car.

Juli looked to the car and then back to Ruvik. "Do you really have to go?" Her voice was full of disappointment.

Ruvik pulled her close, breath fogged by the cold. "Just for tonight I should go. I'm tired. Go with them, don't miss having fun." His mouth found hers. Tongue slipping past soft lips, he brushed her own as delicately as a paintbrush on watercolors.

She wanted to go with him, refusing to move with the weapon that had been her torment in her clutches. Finally, she obeyed and slowly made her way after Tatiana and Rudy. She looked back once, smiling.

He waited until she was gone with the others down the street before climbing in his car.

"Happy New Year, Juli."

* * *

 

" _Do you ever feel guilty for lying to her, brother?"_

Ruvik was surprised to see the phantom sitting next to him in the car. Outside the world whisked by with only the streetlights casting light within the car.

_Sometimes._

" _Don't. She is a pawn. I know you chose her in STEM…but I know your loyalty to me could never be undone. I know you weren't fooled by that monster's attempt to confuse you. We will be together again."_ Laura's hand came to rest on the inside of his thigh.

A tactile hallucination and he felt her hand there.

It gave him wrong ideas. So he just looked out the window.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Numbers are irrelevant. They received as they themselves gave, and they served a higher purpose. They furthered my research."

"This was not mere research. The things the papers say were done to those people… Those…traps."

" _These vermin? These microbes?_  They're mine to do with as I please. But you are correct, this was not mere research. I'm close to perfection."

"This is abhorrent."

" **This is my will."**

* * *

 

_It'd taken a few pulled strings…_

Strings pulled to make hooks bleed and ache in the cheeks of those necessary. He had his fingers so deep in so many people it would have made one wonder just who was left that couldn't be bought. He only knew of one that could never be bought.

_Juli…_

Because she could never be bought; because she was one good person in a sea of wretched and worthless…

_I will impose my will on all of them and bring her some peace._

She would know soon, but not that he acted out the deed. They all would know, and those who knew that they had a part in it would scurry into the dark and stay there. Not one of them would go against him. They were not defiant. They were cattle and gnats and all other forms of lesser beings.

_Lesser than I…_

With each step, Ruvik could feel excitement crawling through the husk that was his body. Preparations had been made. The delivery was done in the dark of night by two men who didn't ask questions. The law of the land was weak; it could never deliver the results of Ruvik himself.

_I will have to make this quick…_

Turning the knob, he pushed the door open to the basement. How it had changed over the years… He had played a few games already with poor Louis. An unfortunate foot stepping into a bear trap had rendered one foot completely useless. He couldn't run, and after a sedative, he slept like a child until Ruvik had him on the slab. A constant feed of carefully measured tranquilizers kept him below the surface. The foot was wrapped and gauzed just enough to stop the bleeding. Ruvik had not planned on that.

_No matter… He will still scream and beg for death._

There still was some use to him… A few tests that could prove useful to STEM itself. Though…

_This isn't about STEM. This isn't about those rats at Mobius or the hospital. This is for her… all for her._

From the shadows he approached the rack, a glance cast to the various tools spread out on his workbench. Orbitoclasts, cutters, hooks, various pliers, a saw…

_Nicholas chose wisely… A shame he doesn't have the stomach for this scene._

Dead gray stars lashed their stare toward the man laid out on the rack. Barbed wire wrapped around appendages forced Ruvik's latest victim to remain stretched out the length of the ancient rack.

Louis was gagged, but his spooked stare could not be ripped from Ruvik. His head was forced to stay high, a heretic's fork and its collar had already been wrapped around his throat. It seemed that the man had already tested the fork, puncture wounds visible along his breastbone.

From under the ghostly shroud, Ruvik smirked. In the florescent lighting, he looked more cadaver than a living man.

The victim's breath heaved harshly from his nose, nostrils flaring with each breath.

"I told you that it was just the beginning of what I was going to do to you."

Louis swallowed hard, fighting the urge to tear up.

Ruvik's lips twitched into an amused smirk. "Do you like what I've done with the place? The rack you're tied to came from Spain. It was supposed to be merely a decorative piece but I really desired to put it to the test." His stare drifted up the device. "Though there is no need to stretch you. You look perfect like this."

A pitiful sound escaped the other man's throat.

"What was that? I couldn't understand you." Ruvik released the gag of rags.

A couple of short breaths and Louis' fright could not be contained. "You're fucking insane, man!" He tried not to cry but it was far too late for that. The wounds on his wrists from the barbed wire were killing him.

"I'm insane? I wasn't the one who brought this on himself." Ruvik turned away to the workbench, fingers drifting over the various tools.

"When she finds out what you did to me, she'll have you arrested and thrown in the electric chair."

Ruvik stopped in his tracks, his expression falling from amused to flat. The very idea that his perfect pet would turn on him…

 _She could_ _**never** _ _turn on me._

Without warning Ruvik picked up one of knives off the table and swiped it clean across Louis' face. A howl of pain was his reward and he did it again and again until blood ran freely and there were more blood than features left on the other man's face "You don't know her you filthy microbe!" Ruvik roared in his face, the knife driven through Louis' bicep and left to weep blood.

_Slice cleanly…_

Louis' cries to a nameless god went unheard by his tormentor. The heretic's fork lodged itself into the flesh under his chin.

Every cut brought new torment.

" _Just kill me!_  I know that's what you're going to do to me anyway!"

_No cure for what I'm going to do to you…_

Instead of gagging him again, Ruvik sliced off the man's scalp and shoved it as far into the man's mouth as he could manage.

Louis thrashed, trying desperately to break his bonds to little avail.

"Usually microbes are not so willing to provoke me with their foolishness. I will end you when I feel like it." Ruvik uttered, dumping the knife onto the work bench. He went for the snips gleaming in silver.

Toes, fingers and nose were the next to go. Every crunch and snip rendering more cries of terror and screams in agony.

Ruvik reveled in it all, though he was not close to perfection yet. His coat, bare chest, and arms all were drenched in lovely crimson.

Louis was thrashing far too much for what Ruvik had planned next.

A sedative was needed.

A sedative was chosen.

A sedative of Ruvik's design.

Though Louis could not move, he still could feel every cut and every tear that stripped his body of something more.

Tourniquets were applied, the saw put to use removing appendage after appendage.

"Can't have you dying before I allow it."

Thirty minutes passed of this torment before the phone rang. Far too busy to answer, Ruvik allowed it to go to voicemail.

" _Hey, it's me… I was hoping that you would come back to the city tonight. I have the night off. I…miss you. Bye."_

Before Louis gave up the ghost, Ruvik held the fool's beating heart in his hand.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

_She's late._

As if on que the sound of someone fumbling with the lock echoed through the apartment. Door swung open, Juli had her hands full with bags of groceries and a few bits of mail clenched between her teeth. They were the first to be dropped; right on the coffee table. "Sorry that I'm late." Juli cursed to herself as she dropped a bag.

Ruvik glanced up from the couch, rubbing at weary eyes before checking his watch. "It's one in the morning." He told himself the time more than telling her.

Light flicked on, Juli dumped the bags on the island in her kitchen. "I know…I know…" Fridge popped open, she began to place everything bought inside. "I just… I swore I had a lead tonight."

Slowly approaching the kitchen, Ruvik watched her organize. The way she kept meat in a freezer drawer, the way she put apples with vegetables and not the other fruits. All of it. None of it was filtered out. A glimpse of her when he was not around.

Sometimes he wished that wasn't the case.

Sometimes.

Most of the time.

_Every moment._

Mahogany eyes lifted their hues to peer over at him. "I'm really sorry that I'm late. I swear I didn't intend to miss our little class." The fridge door closed as she pushed it shut. "Forgive me?"

Amusement strung across Ruvik's mouth. She charmed him with a few batted eyelashes. A sigh escaped him as he wandered into the kitchen. "I'll consider it. If you can do something for me," He purred, arms looping around the woman's waist.

A curious brow and a sly grin encompassed Juli's features, white stone nails dragging down the crimson colored shirt on his chest. "What did you have in mind?"

"A glass of wine." He uttered softly, brows raising high when she laughed. "What?"

Breaking free of his grasp, Juli sauntered to the rack to select a bottle. "Oh, I thought you might have something more morbid or erotic in mind."

Arms crossed, a snicker escaped Victoriano. "What did you think I would ask that was morbid?"

Juli stood tall, deciding on a merlot. "Oh, I don't know… Helping you hide a body."

His expression fell flat, but recovered into a snort. "I have a man for that already." It wasn't a lie, though his tone implied nothing more than a joke. Somewhere out past Elk River, a fresh grave was ready to feed worms.

_Parting is such sweet sorrow…_

"You wouldn't call me if you needed to hide a body?" Wine cork popped out, Juli feigned a pout. "I'm hurt that you wouldn't."

Ruvik smirked, leaning against the marble topped island. "If I ever do, I will call you." He accepted a glass from her, inhaling the aroma of a wine that was less than what he normally would have. The urge to make a face was fought, and he took a sip. "So… this lead you had tonight."

The contents of Juli's glass went down in one go. She made a face at the taste, setting the glass aside. "Dead end as far as Homicide is concerned…" The brunette poured herself another glass. "Some psychic said that there are twelve bodies buried in a mass grave out past Elk River and we're supposed to go look for them because she said so." Glass lifted to her lips, Juli took another swig. "The woman is full of shit. All of the murders are in Krimson City. Sebastian almost threw me out on my ass when I told him I had followed up on that lead." Her lips pursed. "It was a bad day…"

Ruvik couldn't hide the alarm in his eyes, but she wasn't paying attention to his expression. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and then approached her. "It'll be fine. You're being thorough." He uttered softly, pulling her into his arms again. A hand running the length of her back, Ruvik sighed. "If they do…I can always find you a job."

"Ruvik, no…"

"No, it'll be a real job. I can make room for you anywhere."

Juli's expression cracked under the stress. Mobius wouldn't be quiet if she managed to get herself thrown off the force. She was supposed to keep an eye on her team. That was her whole job and somehow she was failing miserably at it. "This has been my life… I worked so hard for all of this. I don't want to pick up and go elsewhere. I've looked at doing something else… I'm not cut out for it."

He fell silent. She didn't need him to fix the problem, only to listen to her.

"I just… I want to catch this woman. I want to put her away for good." She reached for her glass and finished it off. "Well, enough about my horrible day. What have you been up to today?"

_Oh nothing…just finished butchering your attacker._

Lips pressing into a thin line, Ruvik shrugged. "Walked the dog."

"Must be nice." Juli uttered, wandering into the living room. Holster and gun removed, she laid both on the coffee table. Her badge went down with them.

Ruvik followed, an arm draping across the back of the couch as he sat down. When she joined him the appendage wrapped around her. All he could smell was her perfume. "It'll be fine. You'll catch her one way or another."

Legs crossed, she nestled her nose against his shirt. The scent of spiced cologne filled her nostrils. It was a welcoming aroma after such a long and miserable day. "You know what's funny? I believe your insight more than I do the others. I feel like we're just chasing our tails."

A sound of acknowledgement escaped Ruvik, long fingers pressing high along her shoulder. "You're tougher and wiser than you give yourself credit for. I hardly could do your job. The red tape and justice system would have driven me into madness."

"Yeah…" She sighed when his mouth touched to her neck, tongue rolling against that creamy throat of hers. Juli melted into the touch. She needed his wicked silver tongue in more ways than just spilling words in her favor. Pulse battering her heart in its cage, she was quick to begin unbuttoning her shirt. A laugh wandered free of her when he brushed her hands aside and did the work for her. One by one the pearl buttons popped open. A wanton sound slithered free when his chilly digits ran under the lacy black fabric of her bra.

"Did I buy you this one?" He asked barely above a whisper, fingers running over the stitching of the fabric.

"You did." She replied under blushing cheeks.

"I should have bought it in red…" He uttered softly, guiding the shirt away from her shoulder.

Juli laughed. "You buy me everything in red. It must be your favorite color."

"On you…" White stone nails running the length of his inner thigh, Ruvik's nostrils flared. His long fingers guided her jaw, mouth fusing with Juli's own.

Her hand went to his belt, wrenching both it and the fly of his trousers open. There was some pride in seeing his pupils dial when her nails drug along the span of skin hidden beneath the fabric. Rising from the sofa, Juli shed the layers covering her ivory colored skin. Black fabric fell away from the swell of her breasts and was dropped to the floor. The sheer fabric of her panties gave a glimpse of what hid beneath. She left them on as she crawled into his lap. Her fingers went to his tie, loosening it and removing it. "I've thought about this all day."

"Have you?" He asked softly. Long fingers slid down her ribs, grasping at her hips when she ground down against him.

"Mhm…"

He cupped the swell of her right breast. Tasting all she had to offer with a slick pink tongue, his lips spread wide in an open grin when the woman's breath hitched. Tongue wandering over the sensitive bud, she mewled so shamelessly that the air felt too warm and his clothing five sizes too tight. He released her to wrestle with her urge to overpower him and take what she wanted.

Juli intended just that. Long fingers ripped Victoriano's shirt wide open. Red buttons fell to the floor like jewels. One escaped under the couch.

A laugh escaped Ruvik. He loved her savage nature when it appeared out of its camouflage before him. He despised the world for forcing her to wear masks to hide it. He would burn it all to the ground to free her from it if he could. His wild Aphrodite deserved better than this world.

It was short lived as Juli had his chin in the claws that were her white stone nails. Mouth crushing his, she forced her tongue in and pushed against his, demanding reciprocation from him wordlessly.

He followed in kind, letting her devour him between pale edges. Ruvik could taste the wine still leaving traces of its flavor for him to find. When their lips broke, he could only inhale the sweet aroma of wine and her perfume.

She made him ache in the worst of ways.

Her fingers trailed over rough and damaged skin on his bare chest, a pathway to nowhere and yet everywhere.

Ruvik shoved his hand between her legs, nimble digits feeling their way under the sheer fabric. A gentle finger traced the petals, toying with her. He grinned as she shuddered.

Juli gasped when his wrist flipped, an able finger gliding in. Internally she collapsed around him, over and over while his thumb ran in circles over her pearl. "Don't stop." She whispered breathlessly, visibly trembling.

Ruvik's grin could not be sunk watching her lose her mind before him. Her beautiful back arching. Sweet nectar dripping over his hand. Her nails testing themselves on his flesh; all of it more than he ever deserved.

Biting back a moan, Juli brought one hand to rest on the wall behind the couch; the other went straight past his fly to curl around the length of his girth.

The third stroke of her hand and his eyes were shielded by hooded lids. He wouldn't have been surprised if he melted on the spot from her touch.

It was too much.

Not enough.

He was a Lotus eater in her hands. "I-If you do that too much, it's going to be a short evening for both of us."

His words went unheeded, her grip tightened. Her thumb rolled over the undercarriage of the head in a lazy rotating fashion. She wasn't pleased until he was dripping all over her fingers, with flushed cheeks and begging her to stop before he finished.

He hated how she made his member weep all over the skin stretched between her thumb and index finger.

He loved it too.

Juli obeyed, despite being spurned the chance to see him lose his mind for once. Hazy in expression when he withdrew his fingers from her, she drug her nails along his jaw and wandered downward. The panties were tossed off, finding their way onto the undisturbed ivory keys of her piano. Slowly, she eased herself onto him.

Ruvik's breath mutely hitched, hands wandering back to her hips. So warm and inviting, he could have died a happy man on the spot. He swallowed hard, brows knitting. It felt like the first time all over again for him. It always felt like the first time and he was still in disbelief that she was his. His disbelief evaporated as her mouth fused to his once more.

Juli kept the pace slow, savoring the moment. She let him set her on fire again with that silver tongue, crying out when his teeth marked her shoulder as his. A groan accompanied his tongue bathing over the perfect imprint of his teeth on her milky colored skin.

He strained with composure, desperate to maintain control. It faded quickly, his fingers leaving white marks to turn into red water color on her hips. He met her halfway over and over, desperate to wring every last wanton sound that was bit back by Juli.

She lost the fight to contain those sounds, hips bucking as his girth brushed against that one spot deep inside. One spot that drove her right over the edge. She shattered in his arms, a mess of sound and motion as she reached her peak.

He followed soon after. His arm coiled around her as affectionate as a snake coiling around its prey. The free hand went to lift tresses of brunette from her face, revealing her savage beauty and the exhaustion.

"I love you…" She whispered breathlessly.

A scarred palm gently splayed against her cheek. "I love you too, my joy…"

Juli's pink lips spread into a smile. She believed him.

* * *

 

Both handles were given a twist. The bath water ran a suitable temperature for both of them. She let him decide. She favored watching him leaned over the side of the lion clawed tub, naked with a palm in the water. Nothing about him in that moment eluded her. His breath causing a rise and fall, and the way his soft pale skin gave way to ruthless scars.

_My Adonis…_

A good man to her lived in a shell damaged by the world. She never had wished for him any different than he was. She was not a shallow woman. There was a beauty to his appearance. A rugged and ruthless beauty only found in lone wolves and battle scarred stags. A beauty that had unwove her thread from the clutches of the fates and gave her new outlook on life.

_I'm not alone in this world._

She smiled to herself, a hand clutching her house coat closed. Stepping into the bathroom, a gentle hand went to his shoulder, shrouding a wicked scar.

Ruvik looked up to her, the corners of his mouth turning up.

"I really do love you." It sounded so awkward to Juli, like it wasn't enough.

He knew.

He could see it in her eyes.

He crawled in first.

She crawled in second.

A gentle hand pulled her back to him, resting on her forehead. Tilting her away, his mouth enclosed around her earlobe; biting and teasing the tender flesh; his favorite game to play with her.

Juli laughed, a carefree and silly sound forking from pearly teeth as she tilted away from his reach. "Don't do that." She was such a liar, she loved it. She was as bubbly as champagne with him.

Ruvik smirked, satisfied with his work. Long fingers reached out to the Victorian styled stand next to the tub. Into the tub went a generous amount of bubble bath. Soon bubbles rippled around them amid the warm water.

She fashioned a foamy beard on him and laughed.

He did the same, shaping one on her.

They both laughed.

* * *

 

Wet footprints led to the bedroom and to the bed where they played in the dark.

She squealed when his teeth found her hip, desperate to pull away before he did it again.

He laughed when she couldn't overpower him with arms alone.

They wrestled and played until they were out of breath. Both laid out in the dark, it was Juli that grabbed a pillow and tossed it over her companion's head. Playfully she pushed it down.

"You dead yet?"

"Completely and utterly dead." He replied when the pillow was pulled away, eyes closed. He blindly reached out and pulled her close. Coiling around her, Ruvik rested his nose against her throat.

"Do you think we'll always be like this?" A rather deep question from Juli at three in the morning.

Ruvik tilted his head, gazing toward the shadows casting their fingers in long lines on the ceiling. He liked her deep questions. "No…"

Juli raised a brow, turning her head to gaze at his outline.

"We'll be better than this…"

_My face will be restored… All that was taken from me will be mine once more. I'll live the life I should have lived and I'll live it with you._

She gazed toward the ceiling as well. "I think we're great just like this."

Ruvik side glanced toward her. "You do?"

Juli nodded. "I hope we never change." Her voice sounded wistful and tired.

Ruvik's silence was all the reply she would have.

* * *

 

" _To love is to burn, to be on fire."_

_-Jane Austen_


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"This is absurd!" Marcelo's words echoed to every corner of the room. He blinked away the blinding light from the geometric style wall casting long rays through. There wasn't a word in the English language that could convey how much he hated having to sit in that room with light blinding him constantly. Perhaps it was age that made him so cross.

"We just feel that Ruben would be more productive if he and his team had the opportunity to work closer with Mobius. After several trials in the hospital, it's time we gave STEM a permanent home. It can't rot in that basement. That doesn't suit our needs. We can prepare our men to use the terminal under his guidance and more readily fund the system." Behind his desk, the administrator seemed far from amused by the outburst. Pen twirling between his fingers, his eyes focused on Jimenez solely. The old man had nearly worn out his welcome already. "We've made a deal to no longer try to actively influence his research by being…pushy. The incident in the hospital has put him drastically on edge." Blue eyes shifted to address Ruvik himself. "To alleviate that, we're moving the project and taking an active role with assisting."

"You cannot be serious."

"This would mean I could begin preparations on the prototype…" Ruvik uttered softly.

Switching his stare, Marcelo was nothing less than a cornered rat. "What prototype?"

"Ruben has an idea for a wireless terminal. It would suit our needs more easily if it works as well as the current model. I want it to be put into Beacon but not in the basement." A cruel grin erupted on the administrator's face. "The tower there should suffice."

"We hardly have room for—"

"Make room, or you'll be cut out of this equation, Jimenez."

Jimenez swallowed back fear. He could feel it in his guts; he had completely lost control of the situation.

Leaning forward, the administrator's elbows came to rest on the desk, palms folding. "There is the matter of this…operation that Mr. Victoriano needs. I'm having a team flown in to assist with this radical procedure. From what I understand, Ruben, you're saying that this experimental technique will help you pinpoint what is needed to make all of this work?"

Ruvik's sidelong stare evaporated from Jimenez. Eyes forward, he addressed the man bathed in shadows. "STEM has its limits even for the one influencing the others. With the procedure, I should be able to maintain conscious influence and not be contaminated by others who enter the system."

A fox grin erupted on the administrator's face. "It's your skull, not mine. We'll have to come up with another method to prevent any contagion, but you'll have your procedure." He flipped through a few papers on his desk. "This method…Nobody else would even want it, let alone consent to such a macabre appearance after." Eyes lifted from the papers, he frowned. Some part of him felt pity. It did well to bury itself quick. "Be sure to report in after your recovery."

* * *

 

"Miss Kidman!"

Lifting her head, Juli looked around for the source of the voice in the small coffee shop. Once it was found, her lips twitched into a warm smile. "Hello, Nicholas. Have the day off?"

The silver haired youth returned to smile, nodding. "I do. I'm spending the day with my little brother. Would you care to join us?"

Juli's eyes switched from Nicholas' face to the table nearby.

An almost mirror image of Nicholas sat at the table, shaking and mumbling to himself. He looked so unkempt and pale, but his features bared a strong resemblance. He was familiar beyond that.

_The boy…That boy was in STEM._

Juli couldn't move for a moment, struck speechless. She recovered with a shake of her head. "O-Of course I can join you. I'm just…overwhelmed with all of this…" Her hands settled on the pile of papers, the webbing of her hands spreading.

"I don't think a few minutes chatting will make or break your case. Come, have some coffee with me."

Papers and photos piled into a messenger bag, Juli left the table and the empty coffee cup behind.

Nicholas pulled a chair out for the woman, taking his seat next to the boy. "This is my brother Leslie."

Juli offered both a smile and a little wave. "Hello."

An arm wrapped around Leslie's shoulders, Nicholas tapped the boy on the chest. "Leslie, I want you to meet a friend."

Leslie's blue wells lifted to the woman, pausing only briefly from his usual twitchy mannerisms. His stare drooped back to the muffin on his plate. "Leslie…is hungry."

"Then eat. You don't have to wait for me before eating, little brother." Nicholas tried to keep a brave face, but his concern could not be kept hidden. "Leslie stays at Beacon Hospital; I think I told you that once upon a time."

Juli nodded.

"He…is very smart." Nicholas continued, busying himself with sliding his cup of coffee closer. "He is very gifted as an artist and quite the ladies' man according to the nurses. Isn't that right, Leslie?"

Leslie was too busy chewing the top of his muffin to give any regard to his brother's jokes.

Juli chuckled softly, though grew solemn. Something in her made her want to tell Nicholas what had happened in the hospital. Personal morals perhaps… Her voice dropped. "I've met your brother before at the hospital."

"Ah… during your stay?"

Juli shook her head, glancing at a passing barista. "No… when Jimenez put us in STEM." She met Nicholas' gaze.

There was ice in those blue hues of Nicholas and darkness in his voice. "Ruvik told me. I didn't think you'd remember…"

Juli shrugged. "Bits and pieces, I do."

Nicholas nodded. "Ruvik has given Leslie and me a life we never would have had…" He took a sip of his cinnamon coffee. "Our parents were butchered when we were very young and we lived on the streets until he found us."

"Why you two? Were you friends growing up?"

A laugh escaped Nicholas at the very idea. "Miss Kidman, you are funny. No, Ruvik is thirty-six years old now. He was a teenager when we were born." Long fingers reached for a packet of sugar. "No, we were chosen because Leslie and I…" His stare shifted from the coffee to Juli. "We…like him, can make the machine work."

Juli's curiosity could not be sated. "So…why does Leslie stay in the hospital but you work as a butler?"

"Leslie needs round the clock care for his symptoms. I evaded many of the symptoms that he has, so I hold down a job for Mister Victoriano." He reached for the spoon. "This won't last for much longer though. Mister Victoriano and I…" Nicholas stirred sugar into the blackened pool within his cup. He swallowed hard, burdened by something. "We have made a deal. Leslie will come live with him very soon."

Kidman smiled at that. "That sounds…very kind of him. What will you do? Will you still work as a butler?"

Nicholas' expression wiped of emotion, blue stare fixed to the window.

It was still snowing, sky lit in shades of gray.

"No, Miss Kidman. I will have to go away."

Juli's brows knit.

"I…have plans to do other things." Nicholas cleared his throat. "That hospital is a disgusting place unfit for humans." The silver haired youth's stare fixed to his younger brother. "When that time comes, I hope you might look out for Leslie…"

Juli nodded, smiling at the silver haired boy that had made a mess of his muffin. "I can check on him from time to time."

Leslie was using both hands to paw up the remnants of his muffin. His eating was sloppy at best, a sign of someone who was allowed to grow up instead of taught proper manners. It must have been hard for him growing up with such a debilitating condition. From the streets and into a hospital notorious for being atrocious, he had been through much.

Nicholas did his best to clear the air of grief. "It'll be a perfect life at the estate. Leslie can flirt with all of the pretty maids. Right, Leslie?" Nicholas wrapped his arm again around the boy, pearly smile exposed.

Leslie smiled, bearing broken and rotten teeth under his tired eyes. "Leslie…can." He wrapped his arms around his brother, leaving crumbs of muffin on the shoulders of the tailored black suit.

Juli could see nothing but pain in the moment, and felt sorry for them both.

* * *

 

Nicholas paid her tab at the front and the three left the warmth of the shop.

"I do hate to ask this of you…"

Juli lifted a brow.

Dusting snow from the shoulder of his wool coat, Nicholas cleared his throat. A cold was forming. "Ruvik and I made a deal that Leslie would never have to run the machine. He is working for a company that is going to buy STEM. If they ever got their hands on Leslie I don't know what would happen."

Juli pulled her coat tight, a sense of dread forming over her shoulders as the silver haired man spoke. She fished her car keys out of her coat pocket. "I don't understand why you can't take Leslie with you."

Lips pursing, Nicholas came up short for just what to tell her for a moment. "I don't have the resources to care for him. I just don't. This is as good as it can ever get for Leslie… Life is so unpredictable. If anything ever happened to Mister Victoriano or his money, Leslie would be on the streets again." The weakness in his eyes was veiled in defeat. "I consider you a woman of great conviction…and you're a cop."

Juli couldn't let him down. "I'll protect him, Nicholas. If it comes down to him needing taken somewhere, I'll do it."

That seemed to put Withers at peace as he reached out and hugged the woman for a moment. "You know not that you're an angel among demons."

With a smile on her face, Juli got into her car. "I'll see you in a few days."

" _We know what we are, but know not what we may be."_

– _William Shakespeare_


End file.
